The Well of Udr (2015)
by Emerald Viper
Summary: I've noticed several people reading my Exalted stories recently. I haven't worked on these in a long time, but I did have a revised version of Well of Udr that I never posted. This contains revised versions of Alexander the Great, Godchaser, Shadowsbane and the Well of Udr (with additional fights, dialogue, etc.). It will take a few days to upload.
1. Prologue - Genji (Heaven Sent Sword)

**PROLOGUE**

 **THE FAESLAYER**

"Tepet Genji?" A voice growled.

My servants glanced at one another. They obviously thought I was about to die.

I slowly turned to see who had called my name.

The soldier stood just beyond the light of our campfire. His eyes reflected green in the dark. Though he was dressed in beautiful armor and walking upright, I noticed he had a tail. Like many of the Anathema's ferocious servants, he was a beastman, the bastard offspring of a demon and an animal. I made a silent prayer to the Dragons for protection. The beastman gave me a curious look.

"Lord Faeslayer wishes to speak to you," he said.

"Then take me to him," I replied cordially.

It was not as if I had a choice. I _was_ his prisoner.

Since I am a scholar and not a warrior, I behaved as though I were resigned to my Fate. If my captors saw that I was obedient, they would not suspect that my mind was whirling with plans. My home was not far away, and the packs of demons roaming the countryside posed a danger to my people. I had been afforded a unique opportunity. I was already in the Anathema's camp. I had to slay him if I could. Of course, I knew that would not be easy. The Faeslayer was one of the Forsaken, and they were notoriously difficult to kill.

Not for the first time, I cursed my luck. I'd known that Anathema were gathering around Nexus. Though no one could explain how such a thing was possible, the demons had dredged up an ancient city from the depths of the Yanaze River. The Faeslayer now ruled over it with his enormous horde of beastmen, bandits, and mercenaries. The power he wielded was so enormous that he even attracted traitors from the Blessed Isle. The Army of the New Deliberative scarcely ever moved, but it loomed like a thundercloud over all the Scavenger Lands.

Churning. Rumbling. _Waiting._

To my surprise, the Anathema's soldiers treated me very well. No one in my retinue had been abused, and the food that we were all served morning and night was of such quality that I could scarcely believe that we were prisoners, and not honored guests.

The beastman led me in the direction of his master's tent. It looked exactly like the tent I had just left. The only sign that it belonged to someone of importance was a white banner hanging over the door. The golden sun symbol was unmistakable. More than a thousand years ago, the Anathema had ruled Creation, and they had left their mark all over it. I had seen that same heraldry on the pages of forbidden books, and on the crumbling walls of ancient ruins.

I considered it. Although I considered myself a dedicated student of history, I'd never actually _met_ a demon before. Since my capture, I had seen the Faeslayer only once. From nearly a mile away, his blazing anima had convinced one of my less-Enlightened servants that the sun was rising two hours early.

The beastman did not step into the tent before me. He motioned for me to enter alone. I smoothed out my clothing as best as I could. I was Exalted by the grace of Sextis Jylis, a Prince of the Earth! I would not be afraid.

What I did see when my eyes adjusted to the ruddy lamplight of the Anathema's tent left me at a loss for words. Though the suit of ancient armor and the massive daiklave which rested in the corner left me no doubt as to the true nature of my jailer, the Anathema himself was hardly imposing, at least not in a physical sense. He was slightly taller than six feet with the build of a runner, lithe and strong without the bulk of too much muscle. His skin was deeply tanned from many hours spent outdoors and his fine blond hair was bleached white from the sun. He glanced up at me as I entered and I found myself staring at his striking blue eyes.

"Ah! You must be Tepet Genji!" The Anathema exclaimed, a smile on his face. He spoke High Realm without the distinctly provincial accent that I had become so accustomed to while traveling in the Scavenger Lands. Even knowing what he was, I found him very attractive.

"Tell me, how have my soldiers been treating you?" He pressed.

I averted my gaze. "What do you want from me?"

"I was about to explain," he replied, seeming distressed by my rude behavior. I ignored the chair meant for me and continued to stand a good distance away from him. It bothered me that the Anathema did not look down upon me as if I were an inferior being.

"Please, sit," he offered with the utmost civility, pouring me a goblet of the clearest water I had ever seen. That was when I noticed a familiar wooden chest on the desk before him, my writing box which contained all of my precious paper and inks.

"You'll find that everything is in order," the Anathema informed me. "I understand that you are searching for your mother's manse."

"I am," I nodded. My mother's letters were sitting in a neat stack next to my writing box. Although the Anathema had obviously read through them, he had also re-folded them individually and tied them back together with a piece of white ribbon. That implied message was obvious. Though the Faeslayer was a demon, he was _not_ a barbarian.

"Tomorrow morning my men will return your weapons and your provisions. You and your servants are free to go," he finished.

"You're releasing me? As simple as that?" I stared at him in disbelief.

"I only held you to verify your story," he replied, gesturing to my mother's letters. His manner was extremely straightforward, not at all the kind of riddle-speak that demons were so famous for. I tested his words with a Charm and found them to be completely honest. Though I suspected the Anathema might have been able to manipulate even my best magic, I still felt compelled to say something.

"Thank you," I paused. As much as I wanted to hate him for what he was, I could not find the strength to do so. There was something in his demeanor which was so… _likable!_ Damn it all, why _wasn't_ he a loathsome monster?

"Though I would ask one small favor," the Anathema admitted.

 _Ahah!_ _A_ _catch!_ "What sort of favor?" I wondered, instantly on my guard.

"Nothing very important. I'd like you to write a letter for me," he said.

"Surely you could…" I began, certain that such a simple request would not come without unpleasant strings attached.

"Write it myself?" he suggested. "I will if I must. But my High Realm is a bit rusty."

His speech sounded so perfect that I wondered what other motivation he might have for making such a peculiar request. I tried my Charm again and learned only that he _was_ nervous about the letter writing, though I still could not discern why. I sipped my water. As an Aspect of Wood, I'm immune to most poisons, and if the Anathema truly wished me dead, he might have killed me days ago. The water tasted as fresh as it appeared and the goblet he had poured it in was remarkable. I could not decide if it was made from crystal or silver, but it must have been terribly expensive.

"Also," the Faeslayer paused. "If I pen anything in my own hand, someone will use it to scry my whereabouts."

That excuse sounded much more reasonable.

"Well, if that is the price for my freedom, so be it!"

I slowly opened my writing box, taking out a thick sheet of white rice paper, a bottle of fine black ink, and a delicate, precise, brush. Calligraphy has always come naturally to me. Considering how he'd cared for my mother's letters and my writing box, I suspected that the Anathema was one of those rare men who actually appreciated such a skill.

"To whom should this letter of yours be addressed?" I asked.

"To the Dragonlord Cathak Chiron," the Faeslayer replied. "My father."

I immediately dropped my brush and stared in shock. Dynastic social circles were always full of rumors. Some claimed that the renowned Dragonlord Chiron had actually _hidden_ an Anathema from the eyes of the Realm. It made sense to assume that the demon had taken on the form of someone dear to him. But his own son? My father would have _killed_ to learn such a thing! It was _bait_ that the Faeslayer was offering me!

Out of spite for my arrogant, backstabbing relatives, I decided I would not tell anyone. Or was it spite which made me wish to hold my tongue? Some of the things I had read in my mother's secret letters were troubling, and not for the first time, I found myself wondering how much I really knew about my own family. I drank down the water left in my glass. It made me feel a little better, but I was still nervous.

"More water?" The Faeslayer asked.

"Yes, please," I nodded.

He stood and went to a table in the corner of the room. For a moment, I considered attacking him from behind. I hesitated too long, and lost the opportune moment. I did not have a weapon, and from the way he moved, I feared that the Faeslayer would quickly overpower me if I tried to choke him. I was still sitting in my chair when the Anathema returned with a silver pitcher and a second goblet for himself. He filled mine first, and when he drank from his own, he never took his eyes off of me. He said nothing, but studied my expression with a slight smile. The longer I spent in his presence, the more at ease I felt. He was infuriatingly perfect! How appropriate that evil should be so alluring, so difficult to resist!

"These goblets of yours are beautiful. The craftsmanship is exquisite," I paused.

"My wife made them," the Faeslayer replied.

"Are they silver?" I asked.

"Essence," he corrected.

"Essence?" I blinked in surprise. " _Very_ impressive!"

"She is an impressive woman," the Faeslayer replied.

"I imagine she must be," I watched the Faeslayer as he sipped his own water.

Such grace he possessed! And his eyes! They were blue, but they contained tiny, almost imperceptible flecks of gold. Dragons, who could not wish to look into them?

I feared for a moment that the demon was in my mind, putting thoughts in my head that were not my own. I pushed my chair further away from his desk.

"Please don't do that. It's disconcerting," I said.

"What is?" He raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"You, behaving like a Dynast," I paused.

The Faeslayer laughed. "My father is a Dragonlord! By birth and upbringing, I _am_ a Dynast!"

I snorted.

He sighed. "I'm sure you think this is preposterous, but when I was a child, my nickname was "Little Monk". I _begged_ my father to let me join the Immaculate Order! He sent me to Paisap's Stair instead. I suppose he hoped it would prove my blood."

Paisap's Stair was a notoriously dangerous school for the ill-bred and illegitimate. The instructors there were charged with pushing their pupils towards Enlightenment. Sometimes they managed to draw down the blessing of the Dragons. More often, their efforts proved fatal. Not that it mattered. If the child of a Dynast could not Exalt as a Prince of the Earth, he or she was worth nothing.

"Well, obviously, you didn't Exalt," I replied.

The Faeslayer smiled. "We Solars _are_ Exalts, Genji."

I'd never heard anything more absurd, but I held my tongue.

"Use your Charms on me!" He volunteered. "I'm no monster. In fact, you and I are probably very much alike."

I did not believe him, of course. But I found that I wanted to.


	2. Chapter 1 - Dawn (Loren)

**Chapter** **1**

 **Dawn** _ **(Loren)**_

I had a privileged childhood, a thing which I am not ashamed of. My father, Cathak Chiron, was wealthy and influential, able to provide the very best for his children. I never wanted for anything, but I was not spoiled. A lifelong soldier, my father also believed that too much coddling was the surest way to raise a useless son.

I received my earliest education from Immaculate monks, and spent many lazy afternoons dreaming of leading gallant Wyld Hunts against fae and demons. I was only four years when my father returned to the Blessed Isle after the capture of Lookshy, but I can still clearly remember his glorious victory parade.

Had I been a legitimate child, I might have been groomed as a candidate for the Scarlet Throne, but my mother was a servant girl of no importance. I never knew her, and did not lament her absence. Of course, I had no reason to believe that any mother cared for her children. Most young Dynasts see very little of their parents. Being a Dragonlord, my father was often gone, and my stepmother, an aspiring politician, scarcely noticed her own son. In her eyes, I was not worth the rice I ate for breakfast. In fact, she usually seemed annoyed that my father "wasted" so much of his time with me.

I was similarly doted on by my great-aunt Garel, who is revered as the foremost military historian of the Realm. Every Dragonlord has read and re-read her books on Shogunate Era warfare. While my aunt penned her now-famous works in our cherry orchard, I climbed the trees and stared out over the walls of our estate, imagining far-off cities and dramatic battles. Every time Aunt Garel stopped to rest, I would leap from my perch and beg her to tell me stories about the heroes of our House, particularly my father.

There was nothing I wanted more than to make my father proud of me. Like a moth drawn to a candle's flame, I chased the feeble hope that our family's patron Hesiesh, the Elemental Dragon of Fire, would find me worthy of Exaltation. My greatest aspiration was to join my father's Scarlet Legion.

I took to heart the lessons of the Immaculates, believing that if I behaved like one of the Exalted I would surely join their honored company. I worked much harder than most of my siblings, received better marks in school, and practiced my fighting skills even when I was not expected to. At the age of ten, I was sent to Paisap's Stair, a notoriously dangerous school designed to "prove the blood" of those without good breeding. It was not an easy place to be the son of a Dragonlord, but I was stubborn and very skilled for my age. For my first few years, I was the teacher's favorite and the head of my class... but then some of my fellow students began to Exalt.

Though there was no limit to my ambition, I soon discovered that I could not match the raw ability of the Dragonblooded. My instructors pushed me even harder, and I became convinced that they would kill me if that was what it took to get Hesiesh's attention. Still, I kept my head up, and believed for as long as I could that I would be Chosen.

I never was.

That came as a great shock to me, because I was not accustomed to being a disappointment. In the past, I had always exceeded the expectations placed upon me. I'd devoted myself to _One Thousand Correct Actions_ and _The Book of the Righteous Soldier_. I'd done everything right! But somehow, I had not done enough!

There were none of the usual festivities on my eighteenth birthday, and my beloved aunt refused to attend dinner. Her only words to me were cold, concealing more pain than she dared express. She advised me to go become a monk, so that I might pray for Enlightenment in some future life. I was dead to her already.

Still, I felt compelled to rebel against my Fate. I finished my tenure at Paisap's Stair, graduating near the top of my class despite not being a Dragonblood. It was common for those who failed to Exalt to join the Immaculate Order, and although I loved the tranquility of the Abbey of Mela, stories of battles called out to me more strongly than any sacred texts. More importantly, after my years at Paisap's Stair, I could not conceive of a living in a place that did not resemble a military encampment.

I enlisted in the Imperial Army, rising through the lower ranks very quickly, as good soldiers often do. Even if the path of a Dragonlord was closed to me, I knew that I could still pursue some small command. In every respect, I continued to excel in my chosen profession, and I believe that my father was proud of me, or at least as proud as he could be of a son who had failed him in the worst way imaginable.

All of my efforts to redeem myself were eclipsed by the Exaltation of my younger brother Jaret, which occurred in the summer of _his_ sixteenth year. This came as a terrible shock to everyone, and not only because Jaret was past the age where Exaltation was expected. Despite the fact that he was my father's only _legitimate_ son, Jaret was not held in high regard by our House. He was nearly disowned dozens of times and usually kept under someone else's supervision. I had always felt a certain responsibility towards him myself, being six years his senior.

No matter how I tried to inspire him, Jaret consistently neglected his studies. Drinking and gambling were his chief pasttimes, and though he was a good fighter, he viewed responsibility of any kind with the same sort of disdain that most people reserved for ticks and lice. And yet somehow Hesiesh saw fit to Exalt _him_ instead of _me_!

At first I was furious at the Dragons for choosing my brother who had never respected anyone or anything in his life. My father casually dismissed my harsh appraisal of Jaret's character. He believed that my brother would "grow into" his gifts and to some extent, Jaret's Second Breath did change him. He soon discovered that with his new strength, he could behave more recklessly than ever before.

Jaret's whoring, drinking, and gambling became the plague of our House, and eventually it was decided that something drastic had to be done. My stepmother arranged everything. My brother would turn down a prestigious commission on the Blessed Isle, a soft position which he favored. Instead, he would travel to the Scavenger Lands, joining Winglord Mnemon Rai's infamous legion, the Ravenous Winds. Jaret was twenty-three years old at the time, and he had attended a cushy private school in lieu of Paisap's Stair. He was ill-prepared for a military career, and I was certain that he wouldn't last more than a season with the Winds.

I was already accustomed to life under "Old Thunderstormer's" command. When I'd failed to Exalt, I was not given the opportunity to join my father's Scarlets, but there were other legions where mortals could move up from the bottom ranks. Mnemon Rai had personally selected me from my class at Paisap's Stair. He admired my tenacity and promised that if I continued to show courage and sound judgment, he would one day make me an officer.

I knew that "officer", my commander meant something low-ranking such as a Scalelord or a Fanglord, but that was still a generous offer. My father believed that mortals had no business commanding themselves, and were certainly unfit to lead any unit which might include young Dragonblooded.

It has often been said that the Ravenous Winds march more miles in a single campaign than any army in Creation, and that Mnemon Rai hunts Anathema like some pretentious nobles hunt pheasants. All of that is true. Most importantly, however, "Old Thunderstormer" characteristically favors grit over breeding and commands one of the few legions in the Realm where a mere mortal might be promoted over a Prince of the Earth.

Though he seldom played political games, when I returned to the Scavenger Lands with my younger brother in tow, Mnemon Rai understood that he would be expected to give my father's "useless" son a position which suited his status as a Dragonlord's heir. He dutifully granted Jaret command of two Scales, and demoted me so that I could serve as my brother's second officer. It was difficult to lose the rank I'd worked so hard for, but I knew that Mnemon Rai was only following my father's orders.

I held my tongue, reminding myself that filial piety was one of the stepping stones towards Enlightenment. If it was my father's will that I make my brother look respectable, I would strive to do so. But it was not easy. From that day forward, Jaret would reap the glory while I did all the work.

The first few months we served together were murderous. Jaret quickly learned the importance of properly caring for his own weapons when there was no one else to tend them. He stopped complaining about rain, dirt, and insects when someone drew a humiliating picture of him dressed in ridiculous silks and a little feathered hat. As the reality of his predicament began to set in, Jaret actually became tolerable. We had a few good conversations while on the march and one cold, rainy night, I finally mustered up the courage to ask my brother what I had never dared to ask anyone before.

It was terribly presumptuous for a mortal to request personal information from any Dragonblooded, even a relative. But feeling the heat of my brother's flaring anima close by as we charged into battle had awakened an old desire in me. I wanted to know what it felt like to Exalt.

Jaret told me simply that at the moment of his Second Breath, the world became "a different sort of place". I did not understand what he meant by those words, but I slowly came to accept what Hesiesh obviously intended. If Jaret had become the rock on which all of our father's hopes and dreams rested, it was my duty to teach him. And in doing so, I would be serving my House.

I was resigned to my role as Jaret's keeper when our Wing came to the gates of Nexus. Nexus is a very interesting city with a long and storied history. Since the fall of the Shogunate more than seven hundred years ago, it had been ruled by an organization known as the Guild, which is primarily composed of honest merchants, but also includes slavers, brothel madams, and drug peddlers. The Guild's unofficial leader, an enigmatic individual called "The Emissary" roamed the streets of Nexus at night, nailing grand-sounding proclamations to doors and doling out "justice" however he saw fit. The legal system was complex and labyrinthine, but above any of the petty "regulations" and "ordinances" were two great "Laws". The first was "No One Shall Obstruct Trade Within The City" and the second was "The City Will Keep No Army, Nor Suffer Any Army to Pass Through Her Gates", which was perceived as a direct challenge to the authority of the Realm.

Many Dynasts, including my stepmother, protested that Nexus should be crushed for daring to contest the right of the Dragonblooded to rule Creation. Despite the fact that my father had defeated Lookshy's powerful Seventh Legion, he still felt compelled to stay on good terms with the Guild. As they often say, "an army marches on its stomach", and if the most powerful merchants in the world were angry, soldiers could starve or freeze to death out in the field.

Jaret and I were both surprised to discover that Mnemon Rai had acquired a special dispensation from the Emissary himself, which allowed the Ravenous Winds to camp without fear of reprisal outside of Nexus's walls. Officers could even enter the city on a day pass, provided that they signed a dozen waivers.

It was terribly exciting to set foot in Nexus, one of the oldest and most populous cities in Creation. The river was filthy, and the streets were loud and crowded, but the place still possessed a certain grandeur that made me wish I could have seen it centuries ago, before so many wars had taken their toll. Though I would have preferred the opportunity to explore some of the ruined palaces and ancient tombs which dotted every District, Jaret and I were ordered to proceed directly to the home of our cousin Lao. A son of my father's youngest sister, Lao held stake in several nearby mines. Those mines poured coin into the coffers of House Cathak as they had for generations, but recently our cousin had stopped receiving his weekly shipments of jade.

Lao expressed his concerns and begged us, for the good of our House, to see if we could learn anything about the situation. Though his mines were not far away, I hesitated. I had heard unpleasant rumors about the area, and I feared that we were getting involved in something dangerous. Still, it was clear that Jaret would not pass up the opportunity to impress our father. Without asking permission from Mnemon Rai, he took our soldiers and went to investigate.

In retrospect, I should never have allowed him to do such a thing. Had I gone straight to our commander, Old Thunderstormer would have condemned my brother's actions and demoted him on the spot. Jaret had never fought in an actual battle before. Although our soldiers _were_ under his command, all of them were men and women whose experience exceeded his own.

I tried to argue with him, but Jaret seemed deaf to my words. As we rode out, I shouted at his back for several miles until I grew hoarse. I knew the moment I saw purple smoke rising from the Morning Star Mine that we'd stumbled upon fae. I felt like I'd swallowed molten lead and immediately drew my sword.

Fae are an ancient race. They are able to change their shapes at will, and are fond of horrible "games" which include tricking men, warping their bodies and minds, and even consuming their souls in an act called "Ravishing". Malevolent by nature, fae delight in cruelty and seek to transform whatever they can sink their claws into back into formless Wyld. They have no sense of honor or loyalty and will cheat their way out of anything they are not sworn to uphold. On the battlefield, many prefer to view their fallen comrades simply as a source of fresh meat.

I'd warned Jaret about the possibility of fae numerous times, but my brother was so intent on making a name for himself that he left me with no choice but to undercut his authority. I ordered our soldiers to hold their position on the edge of the forest. The moment I took command, everyone pulled away from Jaret. My brother was mortified. He realized, perhaps for the first time, that his authority was not what he believed it was.

Unfortunately, my decision wounded more than Jaret's pride. My brother knew that most of our House still considered him a failure. He spat curses at me, revoked my rank, and vowed that he would have me dismissed from the Winds for insubordination. Like an angry child, he ran into the woods alone, calling us all cowards, and claiming that Hesiesh would prevail.

And so I did the only thing I could do. I sent a messenger to Mnemon Rai, and I went after my brother.

When I reached the mine, I stopped dead in my tracks. I'd seen some terrible things in my time with the Winds, but never such devastation. The buildings were burning, there were mutilated corpses everywhere, and the air was thick with putrid smoke. The ground looked dry and solid beneath my feet, but it sloshed like deep mud and felt unsteady.

Wyld was burning through the rightful shape of the world. Soon, the trees would become carnivorous monsters, and hordes of formless nightmare creatures would start pouring into Creation. If I stayed too long in such a place, the chaos would infect me like a plague. Men often returned from fae encounters with tails, extra eyes, or other poxes too horrible to describe. Madness, which was the usual result, seemed like a mercy by comparison.

Before I could shout for Jaret, I saw him lying face down in a pool of murky water mixed with his own blood. He was surrounded by a dozen jabbering goblins with piglike snouts and enormous teeth. I would have believed him to be dead, but he was still flaring with Essence. His fiery red anima burned so brightly that I could feel the heat of it where I hid. Jaret struggled to his knees. As the fae closed in around him, I was compelled to make my presence known.

I charged in with my sword held high. The goblins scattered. A few weren't quite fast enough. I'd often coveted my brother's fine jade daiklave, but I was grateful for my simple blade then. Cold iron is the bane of the fae. They cannot heal the wounds they receive, and chains or cages of such metal can also prevent them from using their corruptive powers. "Get back! Leave him alone!" I warned.

Though the goblins could have easily regrouped and mobbed me after my first awkward assault, they began to nervously move towards the trees. About half of their numbers skittered up into the higher branches, making horrible screeching noises. My brother scrambled to his feet. I offered him my hand before I remembered that the Essence flaring around him could burn me. It singed my glove.

"Loren? You followed me?" Jaret blinked in surprise. He looked frightened. Although he'd been angry with me before, obviously he understood that he had made a mistake.

"Of course I did. Exalted or not, you're still my little brother," I replied.

"Where is everyone else?" he asked.

"Far away from here. Where we _should_ be," I paused, watching the trees. "Why did you run off?" I demanded.

"You wouldn't understand," he told me, sounding desperate. "There's... pressure, being a Prince of the Earth. Expectations!"

"Expectations? Feh! Your pride should _never_ overrule your common sense!" I retorted, quoting our father. "Now we'll be lucky to get out of here alive!"

Jaret scowled. He did not like what I'd said, but he knew I was right.

Jaret's eyes drifted slowly skyward. "Something is coming," he whispered fearfully.

I nodded, making a slow circle around Jaret and watching the trees for any sign of movement. A furious rumbling began beneath our feet, causing little stones to jump into the air. Huge trees collapsed like stalks of wheat under the blade of a scythe. When the dust cleared, a horrific beast loomed over us. At least thirty feet long, it had a centipede-like body composed of pieces of rotting flesh and a large, circular maw ringed with yellowed teeth. It let loose an earsplitting squeal, splattering both of us with gore.

At first I thought that nothing could possibly be worse than a giant, Wyld-mutated carrion-eater… but then I noticed that the ground we were standing on was beginning to crack.

Jaret seized my arm and wretched me after him into the brush. The section of my lamellar armor he touched burned through my clothing, searing my skin. I scarcely noticed the pain. We clung to a mess of roots and rubble as the whole mine opened up beneath us, a pit so deep that no light reached the bottom of it. The sound of the earth caving in was deafening.

We both stared in horror. The Wyld was consuming everything around us, and our only way back was blocked by fallen trees.

"I should have listened to you, Loren," Jaret whispered. It was a tremendous concession for him. Obviously he believed that his life was over, and was weighing his mistakes.

Seeing my brother so vulnerable and afraid, I forgave him for everything he had ever done. I decided that if one of us was going to be killed, it would not be Jaret. My brother had so much more ahead of him than I did, more than I ever would! And after staring death in the face for the first time, he was beginning to understand what it really meant to be a soldier.

"Listen to me now. I'll buy you time. Run!" I ordered him.

Cackles and jeers from the goblins in the trees turned into shrieks of terror as I charged the monster. The ground collapsed behind me with each step that I took, but I did not hesitate, not for a heartbeat!

I was in no condition to fight. I already had several bloody gashes from fae claws, and the burn my brother had given me throbbed with pain. My only hope was to wound the huge beast before it swallowed me whole. But then I saw something I had not expected, the perfect opening. I leapt into the air as if I believed I could fly. The distance between myself and the monster would have been difficult for even a Dragonblooded to clear, but I flew as if I had wings on my heels.

That was when I felt it.

 _Power!_

Power beyond all comparison!

A white-gold haze filled my vision as I struck with strength that I should not have possessed, severing the monster's head in a single, clean blow. It collapsed at my feet with a rumble that shook the earth, and caused even more rubble to cascade into the mine.

There was a moment of silence. My heart pounded in my ears, and I felt something both new and terrifyingly familiar coursing through my body. I did not have to ask what it was.

The gift of Heaven. _Essence!_

As I stared at the corpse of the monster, I remembered battles to the likes of which Creation had not seen, not in thousands of years! I saw myself leading legions of soldiers and routing hordes of fae back into the Wyld. I _knew_ that I had once stood alone in the shadow a terrible, raging Primordial, a being of pure chaos older than the world itself.

And I thought to myself… _this_ is what I was born to do!

All my life, _this_ is what I've been waiting for!

The sheer glory of it brought tears to my eyes. Even after my head cleared, I could still taste that long-ago victory. I felt like a priest standing before the altar, in the presence of a god. I was compelled to offer a prayer of thanks, but the words stuck in my throat. They were in a language that I did not realize I had forgotten.

The teachings of the Immaculates say that we have all lived many times before, and that only the truly blessed are capable of recalling what they have been or done. I knew with absolute certainty that what I had witnessed was my own soul's memories, and that I had somehow borrowed a fraction of the strength I'd once possessed.

I didn't consider how impossible what I'd just done was until I saw the monster's severed head. Its teeth were as long as my hand, and its neck was covered in articulated gossamer plates, armor that I should not have been able to cut through, not even with a cold iron sword. My blade was shattered completely, but I did not feel defenseless. I felt _invincible._

I sensed a presence behind me, and I slowly turned.

A pale young woman stood on the edge of the trees, flanked by a dozen goblins. She had long white hair and was dressed in a furisode of spun gossamer that made her look like a Shogunate-Era princess. The moment she stepped into the light I saw that she was no woman at all, but a misshapen fiend with eight limbs, and dozens of eyes sewn all over her face.

I stared. I had never seen a faerie queen before, and yet I _knew_ that was what she was.

"Leave this place, fiend! Go back to the Wyld!" I ordered, pointing what little was left of my sword at her. My own voice sounded strange to me. It _resonated_ with a force that was nearly visible.

"You dare command me?" The faerie queen sneered, stepping out of the green.

I laughed at her arrogance. The Essence that filled me felt like magnificent armor just beneath the surface of my skin. I was as giddy as a child, playing the role of a hero in _the Tales of the Wandering Monk_. "Come one step closer, and I'll send you to meet your monster!" I taunted.

The goblins in the trees wavered. They wanted to flee!

Of course, I _had_ just killed their mistress's very impressive pet

The faerie queen hesitated. She was staring, not into my eyes, but at my forehead. At that moment, I realized there was something just above the bridge of my nose. It felt warm and somehow raw, but not like a burn or a wound.

"Tiger, tiger burning bright. Today you've won," the faerie queen licked her lips, as if she were faced with a singularly worthy opponent, one whose blood she desired above all else. "But you have not seen the last of me!" She warned, and then vanished like a ghost in the light of the rising sun.

There was no mistaking such a threat, but I still found myself smiling. I'd faced a faerie queen and lived to tell of it! No one would believe such a story, but that didn't matter. I knew I'd done it, and Jaret had witnessed everything!

"Jaret!" I shouted, running for my brother. He'd only scrambled a few feet away from where I'd left him. He looked unusually small and fragile, and his eyes were full of fear. A tempest of golden light cut through the smoke between us. It was not until I saw my brother's face that I realized the light was coming from _me_.

The first word Jaret spoke cut through my heart like a spear of ice. " _Anathema!_ " He spat, venom in his voice. His eyes narrowed.

"What?" I stared at him in disbelief. I knew what that word meant. The Anathema were the very worst of all fiends, the chief enemies of Creation.

I stared at my own hands. I was burning even brighter than Jaret, and I sensed again that there was something very clearly visible on my brow, something I had no words to describe. All too late, I realized what it had to be.

A demon brand? _Impossible!_

"Jaret, it's me, Loren!" I protested. "Your brother!"

"Liar!" He cried. Leaping at me with a speed I had not thought he possessed, he swung his blade at my head. "You're not my brother! You're one of the Forsaken! Did you kill Loren? Answer me, did you kill him?"

Since I had no weapon myself, I was forced to dodge his first awkward assault. "Jaret, stop! I swear it! Idiot! Stop, please! " I begged. For certain, I knew that something had changed within me... but how could I have become be a demon?

Being an Exalt, Jaret should have easily bested me in a fight. Still, as he attacked recklessly, I found that I could parry his every blow. It was more than my brother's wounds slowing him down, that much was obvious. I was somehow _better_ than I had ever been!

Jaret did not falter. He forced me back a dozen paces and then caught me off guard. His daiklave struck solidly against my shoulder, shattering my armor but glancing harmlessly off of my skin, which glowed like new bronze. The force of his blow sent him staggering backwards. I reached out to grab him before he toppled into the chasm, but the moment I caught his hand, he drove his blade into my gut. I was so stunned by the pain that I doubled over. And as I dropped to my knees, Jaret fell into the mine.

I think I knew the moment that my brother died. Still, I ignored my own wounds, and made haste in searching for him, hoping that he still held Hesiesh's favor. As I scrambled and slid down into the dark, I was struck by how my presence burned all of the shadows away, like the sun rising in the morning.

When I finally found Jaret's broken body, I sat and stared at my own reflection in a pool of water and his blood. What should have been a familiar face was nothing but a blur of gold that almost held the shape of a man. I no longer felt gloriously invulnerable. The corona of light around me began to fade, and by the time I'd carried Jaret back to the surface, it was gone. But I still sensed the raw power inside of me, and knew that I could call upon it as easily as I might draw a sword. It was absolutely terrifying, so much more than I had ever dreamt of.

I carried Jaret back to Mnemon Rai. No one seemed to notice that I had changed, so I said nothing about what had happened, too shaken by the events to make any sense of them and still unconvinced that Jaret was dead. I remembered what my brother had said about the world "different" after he Exalted, and I feared that the worst was yet to come.


	3. Chapter 2 -Amira (Loren)

**Chapter** **2**

 **Amira**

As soon as I met with Mnemon Rai, I sent a letter to our father, informing him of Jaret's death. I knew that it would take several months for him to receive the news, and I wanted my message to arrive on the Blessed Isle before I did. I said nothing of my brother turning on me. His notoriously impulsive son being killed by the fae was something my father would understand. I didn't dare confess what had really happened. In truth, I did not believe that he could stand to lose both of us at once.

I was permitted to rest until I felt well enough to travel, at which point I was responsible for bringing my brother's remains home. Being that ours is a military House, the Cathak cemetery is somewhat larger than most of those in the Imperial City. Even still, it is reserved exclusively for the Dragonblooded members of the family. Jaret would be interred alongside our elder sister and some cousins who'd been killed at Thorns. Our father would deliver a heartfelt tribute to his valor, Aunt Garel would write his story into her books, and every year after Calibration Jaret's mother would bring flowers to his grave. When I died, I knew that there would be no such ceremony for me. I would be buried wherever I fell, and my name would be forgotten.

Had I ever dwelt on my own death before? I could not remember if I had, but I knew for certain that it had never felt more immanent. Someone would learn the secret that I was trying to bury, and since I could not bring myself to raise my sword against a friend or family member, I would be cut down like a rabid dog.

Mnemon Rai immediately promoted me back to my former rank, giving me not only the Scales that Jaret had commanded, but another hundred soldiers formerly assigned to an officer he'd dismissed for insubordination. I said very little and listened obediently as Mnemon Rai explained that he wanted to see how I would handle _more_ _power_.

In a way, it seemed like he knew.

I did not object to the honor, but hearing soldiers whispering about my substantial promotion did not sit well with me. I barely slept for weeks. Though I carried out my new duties without complaint, everyone from the camp followers who handled our baggage to the Winglord himself knew that I was Jaret's keeper. They were all as kind to me as soldiers know how to be, which is to say that they left me alone. Perhaps they thought that I was blaming myself for his death.

But the truth was, I could not even think of my brother. When I closed my eyes, images flooded into my mind and familiar voices rang in my ears. At first I thought I was hallucinating from the drugs I'd been given, but the feeling that came over me as I drifted between waking and sleep was more akin to accessing an unstoppable torrent of memories, the memories of my past self.

I first dreamt that I was the commander of a great army. That was not unusual for me. Most ambitious young soldiers fantasize about such things. The problem was, in days past I'd imagined myself serving the Realm and bringing great honor to House Cathak. But following Jaret's death… well, I did not know _what_ I was seeing! My lessons in history led me to believe that I was witnessing a time long before the rise of the Shogunate. Still, what I remembered was unlike anything Aunt Garel had ever told me about.

I lived in a staggeringly beautiful city full of towers of white stone and golden glass. My home was a palace overlooking a pristine blue river and rolling green hills. Magnificent flying ships cut through the clouds. Doors would open if I approached them, and if I wanted more light in a room, I only had to speak the word. The food and the wine were indescribable. There was a softness to everything, a luxury that I'd never experienced before. But I was not idle.

My life was was a whirlwind of battles and formal events. The two seemed at odds with one another, although I also had the vaguest recollection of wearing something on my head that felt like a crown. Was I a prince or a warrior? Both? It seemed so.

My fingertips touched the weapon always at my side, a daiklave with a six foot blade forged of a lustrous golden metal. It was made of solid orichalcum, a rare magical ore known for its tremendous weight. No mere mortal or Dragonblood could hope to wield such a blade, which left me with only one conclusion. Had I _always_ been Anathema?

Or... what were the words my past self would have used?

Dawn Caste. _Solar_.

The first night I slept soundly, I dreamt of a woman. I often sensed her presence in my visions, but she always seemed to be sitting or standing where I could not see her face. Sometimes she would rest her head on my shoulder as I watched the sun rise – the sound of her breathing was unmistakable, and the sensation of her fingers trailing along the back of my neck was intimately familiar to me. I could find no words to describe how those early morning memories made me feel, except that I was more at peace than I'd ever been. There was a "rightness" in the world, as if all things were in perfect harmony.

 _"_ _Where_ _do_ _you_ _want_ _to_ _go_ _for_ _breakfast?_ _"_ _My_ _lover_ _asked._

 _I_ _turned_ _my head slowly,_ _taking_ _in her appearance._ _She was dressed_ _in_ _a_ _form-fitting_ _gown_ _of_ _dark_ _blue_ _that_ _accentuated_ _her_ _curves._ _Her_ _hair_ _was_ _silver_ _and cut so that it made her peculiar ears very difficult to ignore._ _Like her golden eyes, they would have better suited a wolf than a woman. And yet despite how strange she looked, she was still beautiful to me. Her lips were especially enticing._

 _"_ _How_ _about_ _Calypsis?_ _"_ _I_ _suggested,_ _naming_ _a_ _place_ _that_ _I knew was very far away._

 _"_ _It_ _'_ _ll_ _take_ _us_ _all_ _day_ _to_ _get_ _there,_ _"_ _she_ _replied._ _"_ _Don_ _'_ _t_ _you_ _have_ _to_ _meet_ _with_ _Perfect_ _this_ _afternoon?_ _"_

 _"_ _I_ _'_ _ve_ _already_ _canceled,_ _"_ _I_ _smiled, enjoying the expression of surprise on her face._ _"_ _In_ _fact,_ _I_ _'_ _ve_ _canceled_ _every_ _one_ _of_ _my_ _appointments_ _until_ _the_ _fifth_ _of_ _Ascending_ _Fire._ _I_ _'_ _ve_ _also_ _taken_ _the_ _liberty_ _of_ _clearing_ _up_ _your_ _schedule._ _"_

 _"_ _You_ _took_ _a_ _whole_ _month_ _off?_ _"_ _She_ _gasped._ _"_ _Who_ _are_ _you_ _and_ _what_ _have_ _you_ _done_ _with_ _my_ _Alexander?_ _"_ _She_ _demanded,_ _her hands on her hips._

 _The moment she called me that name, I began thinking of myself as "Alexander" instead of Loren. It was surprisingly easy to do._

 _"_ _What?_ _Amira,_ _you_ _said_ _you_ _wanted_ _to_ _get_ _away!_ _I_ _only arranged_ _it!_ _Though_ _I_ _can_ _'_ _t_ _imagine_ _what_ _we_ _'_ _re_ _going_ _to_ _do_ _with_ _ourselves_ _with_ _so_ _much_ _free_ _time!_ _"_ _I teased._

 _"_ _Oh,_ _I_ _'_ _m_ _sure_ _we'll_ _think_ _of_ _something!_ _"_ _She_ _toppled_ _me_ _right_ _out_ _of_ _my_ _chair_ _and_ _onto_ _the_ _floor._

I woke before sunrise. My heart was racing. I actually found myself searching for Amira before I realized that the woman I was remembering had probably been dead for a thousand years. Then my eyes came to rest on a familiar pair of scuffed boots.

"Hey, Boss."

My student, "Roach" was standing a few feet away. He was a short, wiry, Murqai boy with unruly black hair and a smile permanently fixed on his face. I'd found him in the desert five years ago while marching back from Chiarascuro and he'd been following me ever since. By official rule, there were no servants or masters in the Winds, but Mnemon Rai had made a rare exception for Roach, mostly because he had nowhere else to go.

Though in a Wing of a thousand soldiers it is impossible to know everyone, Roach rose to the challenge. Claiming the Winds as his new tribe, he quickly learned the rules of the camp and could track down any man or woman within minutes. Widely recognized as the whore's son "protégé" of the House Cathak "disappointment", Roach was also teased mercilessly. Some of the things people said to him were cruel, but Roach never seemed to mind. His response to everything was to make a joke of it, and his sharp sense of humor won him some peace. From the time of our first meeting, he'd decided that I was the only person he needed to impress. Sometimes, that devotion made him irritating.

"What time is it?" I wondered.

"Fifth bell," he informed me. "Talonlord Ozai thought you looked sick. Told me to keep you in bed."

I'd never slept past fifth bell before. "Ugh. Maybe I am sick?" I groaned, slowly sitting up. "My head is killing me," I confessed.

"So who's "Amira"?" Roach teased.

My face must have gone red at the sound of that name, because Roach laughed. I sputtered, but I couldn't find words to protest.

Roach grinned. "Easy, easy! I won't say anything! She's married, eh?"

I didn't answer that question, but Roach evidently thought that the expression on my face told him everything that he needed to know. Of course, being only fifteen years old, Roach didn't actually know anything about women, but inexperience would not stop him from acting like an expert on the subject.

"Heh. Didn't know you had it in you, Boss!" He helped me to my feet. "How's your wound?"

I slowly stood up. I was still a little dizzy, but I figured that some fresh air would probably clear my head. "Better. I think I'm going to go for a walk," I decided.

"I'll come along! You know, you're not all that steady on your feet yet," Roach reminded me. He followed close to my heels as if he were expecting me to fall.

"Roach, I've been wounded before!" I informed him, though that was an understatement. I'd sustained many serious injuries in my years with the Winds, mostly because I preferred to always be on the front line. "I know what my body can take, and right now I'm going down to the river to take a _bath_!"

Roach grimaced, and I suspected that it was because I had used the terrible word "bath". Like most Southerners, Roach did not like to wash as often as I considered civilized.

"I promise, I'll be back before the sun comes up!" I sighed. "If I'm not, you can come find me."

As I said that, I realized that I had no need to ask what time it was. I _knew_. I sensed the position of the sun although it hadn't yet risen, and I was certain that I could make it down to the river and back again before the first rays of light passed over the mountains to the east. The realization was unsettling to say the least.

"You got it, Boss!" Roach gave a little salute and galloped off.

I smiled slightly. My student was shaping into an exceptional soldier. For the first year that he'd been attached to the Winds, I'd used him as a groom for my horse, thinking of him as I thought of all the servants in my father's house. But by the time that Roach was twelve, he'd become fluent in High Realm and had started inquiring about Mnemon Rai's tactics. I made him read all of the books that I'd read at Paisap's Stair and began teaching him how to wield a sword, not like a common thug, but like a Dynast.

Even if he was irreverent and mischievous, Roach was far smarter than anyone gave him credit for. Old Thunderstormer already watched him. Though he would wait for me to suggest that Roach was ready, I did not doubt that my commander would soon see my student put in lamellar and officially sworn into the Winds.

As soon as I was beyond sight of our camp, I ran as if my life depended on it, putting as much distance as I could between myself and the Winds. I followed the river until it began to wind deep into the forest. No one would believe that I'd recovered as quickly as I had. I wasn't even slowed down by the injuries I'd had for years.

When I was sure that I hadn't been followed, I knelt down on the grassy bank and stared into the deep blue water. There was something I had to do that I didn't dare attempt unless I was alone.

My dreams were planting seeds of doubt in my heart. I was beginning to wonder how much of what had happened at the mine was real, and how much I'd only imagined. I had to act decisively or I risked going completely insane. I clenched my fists so tightly that I dug my nails into my palms. I could sense that I still had a power inside of me. Though I wished it would, that feeling had never gone away. But what was it? Perhaps I could speak with the thing that had chosen me as its host.

"Reveal yourself, monster!" I ordered.

Nothing happened. Was I possessed or wasn't I?

I decided not to throw about the names of the demons that I was familiar with, lest I accidentally summon one of them from the bowels of Malfeas.

I sat in silence for a moment, and then I scoffed at my own stupidity.

There _was_ another answer, a much simpler one! If things that I saw in my ceaseless dreams were true, I'd Exalted… and at age thirty, no less! I knew that what made the Dragonblooded different from ordinary mortals was a gift called Essence, a power breathed into them by the Elemental Dragons. Using Essence was an act of will, a conscious decision. Fire-Aspects like my father and brother could burn like torches. Air and Water-Aspects became raging tempests, Earth-Aspects were immovable as stone and Wood-Aspects could poison or heal with only a touch.

The way I felt matched every description I'd ever heard of Exaltation. The thing inside of me was not parasitic or alien. It felt like it _belonged_ there, a natural as my own heartbeat. I knew that I could choose to see the light that flowed through my veins just as easily as I could choose to sit up, stand, or lie down.

 _Mark._ I thought to myself.

I felt a little pinch just above my nose and a sudden warmth. It was almost like blinking, more startling than painful. I stared at my reflection in the slow moving, dark water… the unmistakable demon brand flickering right between my eyes. The shape reminded me at once of a stylized morning sun, being exactly the same soft golden color. Was that truly what I become? Sun-Chosen? And how could such a thing be _evil_?

For the briefest moment I saw my own face superimposed upon the face of my past self. I was struck immediately by how much I looked like him… or was it he who looked like me?

A rustle in the bushes drew my attention. I looked up at the sound and caught sight of a large silver wolf watching me with fiercely intelligent, _familiar_ yellow eyes. I picked myself up slowly and began to slink away. When I looked over my shoulder to see if the wolf was still following me, a lump rose in my throat.

The wolf was gone, and standing in its place was the woman from my dreams. She was dressed in a short dress of white silk, sandals which laced all the way up to her knees and a fine tailored coat with brass buttons, dark blue. Silver bracelets jangled on her wrists, the exact same color as her short-cropped hair. The tattoos which covered her skin glowed in the fading light of the moon.

" _Alexander_?" She put her hand to her heart. I didn't respond. What could I have said? Did I dare admit that I was beginning to doubt who I was?

With the grace of a dragonfly, Amira skimmed across the surface of the water, her feet barely breaking its surface. She looked like a ghost to me, intangible until she collapsed into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably. The warmth of her body, and her smell left me convinced that she was no spirit or illusion, but a living, breathing woman. I didn't have the heart to let go of her. I needed her at that moment even more than she needed me.

 _My Amira._

It wasn't until she stopped crying and our eyes met that I understood. The time that I remembered Amira from was centuries ago. No mere mortal or even Dragonblood could have possibly lived so long. My hand brushed something soft and I realized that she had a _tail_. I didn't know I'd missed something so important. Amira was a demon herself, a shape-changing Lunar!

"Anathema?" I whispered fearfully, drawing away from her.

"Alexander?" She stepped back slightly herself, as if she feared that she had been deceived.

"Go away, Trickster!" I ordered, shaken.

"It is you, isn't it? Don't you recognize me?" As I started walking, she followed after me. "Have I changed so much?" The desperation in her voice was horrible. I couldn't bear it. If I didn't leave immediately, I was either going to choke on my own words or start sobbing like a child.

Amira looked somewhat older than I remembered, but not nearly as old as I knew she had to be. I didn't remember her tail or her tattoos, but her eyes cut right through my soul.

"I don't know you, demon!" I snapped. While the part of me that was still Loren knew that I had to put as much distance between the Anathema and myself as possible, the part of me that was Alexander did not want to let her go.

 _Why was I wounding her?_ Even if she was a demon, what I'd said made me feel like a monster!Amira stared at me as if I'd run a sword through her heart. Immediately, I wanted to apologize. But before I could find the words I needed, she bolted off into the dark.

I went back to camp and dutifully returned to bed. It was difficult to get back to sleep and I woke several times in a state of extreme distress, the name "Amira" still on my lips. Once I thought I heard her crying, but when I got up and tried to find her, she was gone.

Over the course of the next few days, my life returned to normal… or at least as normal as it ever would be again. I'd been serving under Mnemon Rai for years and had many close friends amongst the Winds. If I had wanted to, I could have easily pretend that Jaret was still at home, still infuriating Aunt Garel and making our father threaten to disown him. But I knew that was not the case.

He was dead.

I was dead too, or at least I knew I would be if my family ever discovered what had happened to me. The thought was unsettling. My wounds healed perfectly, my dreams ceased for a time, and I began to ask myself if I was really corrupted. For certain, I could run a longer distance, jump further and I seemed to be breaking a large number of swords... but none of that was proof that I'd actually become a demon. The invisible mark on my brow was another matter entirely, and my brief encounter with the woman from my dreams was even more difficult to forget.

Then, just as I had almost banished her from my thoughts, Amira returned. I was standing watch in the hours just before sunset when a little sparrow suddenly landed in the brush behind me. It followed me in a suspicious manner as I walked the perimeter of our camp and when I finally stopped at my assigned post, I noticed that its eyes were golden.

I blinked twice and when I could see clearly again, the sparrow was gone and Amira was in its place. She did not stand, someone would certainly have seen her if she had dared to… but she did wink at me, obviously pleased that I had noticed her. She wagged her tail back and forth like a dog.

"You again? What are you doing here?" I hissed, my voice no louder than a whisper.

"I came to see you," she replied.

"I'm not who you think," I argued. She gave me a very painful look and I immediately wished that I could take back the words I'd just spoken. Observing the expression on my face, Amira grinned victoriously. Has she caught me in my lie?

"Yes, you are," she replied. "Oh, I thought I was dreaming before! But now I see it." She reached up for my hand, and our fingertips met. The Essence in my veins reacted strangely. I was drawn towards her with a force that felt magnetic. My first conscious thought was that we had been apart too long. Then I remembered where I was.

"Go away!" I snapped, forcing myself to withdraw. "I could sound the alarm right now and have you killed!"

"You won't," she retorted. "You couldn't bear it."

As the perimeter guard turned, she seized the back of my cloak and forced me behind a stack of crates. I nearly retaliated, but then I felt her fingers tight on my throat and decided against any sudden movements. She was very strong and skilled, that much was obvious. If I chose to fight her, there was a good chance I would not win.

Did I want to win? If it meant that Amira would run away again, I found that I preferred defeat.

"I know you better than you know yourself, Alexander," Amira said. She wasn't trying to choke me. She must have realized that I wasn't going anywhere.

"My name is Loren," I argued. " _Cathak_ Loren." I gave the name of my House in the same arrogant tone of voice that my father often used.

"Whatever your name is, you're still _you,_ " she whispered, resting her head against my shoulder exactly as she had done a thousand times before. The sensation of her nimble fingers running from my throat up to my lips made it exceptionally difficult for me to resist turning around to kiss her. Nearly tripping over my own feet brought me crashing back down to reality.

"Stop it!" I protested, trying to convince myself that what I felt for the Anathema was the product of some kind of horrible sorcery. I'd never been so weak in the presence of any woman, let alone one that I suspected might kill me! "I swear, I don't know you!"

But I did know her, and I'd never desired any woman with such intensity. In my waking life, I'd had only a few relationships, but each night I was reliving a centuries-long love affair that made all of the legendary romances in novels and plays seem small and insignificant by comparison.

"You _do_ ," Amira replied. "The bond between us is as strong as it ever was."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I protested, although denying what I felt seemed very silly.

She snorted. "Gods, you have a thick skull! Fortunately, I have just the solution for that," Amira sighed and slipped a thick bracelet off of her wrist. It unfolded into a silver rod about five inches long. "Does this look familiar?" She taunted, poking at me with her unusual weapon.

It did, but I wasn't about to admit it.

" _This_ is my stupid stick," Amira continued. "It's a kinder, gentler, way of reminding you that you're being stupid, stupid, stupid!" Each time she spoke that word she slapped the rod against her palm and it doubled in size until it was the length of a fighting staff.

"I don't give a damn about your stupid… stupid stick!" I protested, although I was already anticipating that she was about to hit me with it. "I am _not_ Alexander! I'm nothing like you!"

Much faster than I had anticipated her to be, Amira whapped me soundly across the back of the head with her stick. "Stupid!"

"Ow!" I protested. I wasn't injured, but my brains were a little rattled.

"Well, that made me feel better!" She replied with a mischievous smirk. "Although you are _technically_ right. We _are_ complete opposites. But that's why we balance, you understand? That's why we're Mates."

The way she spoke that word made it seem as though it meant more than "lover" or even "wife". I didn't realize how close the two of us had come until Amira reached out and put her hand on my cheek, her trembling fingertips coming to rest again on my lips. Her yellow eyes burned like warm candlelight, and I did not doubt that succumbing to her advances would prove to be an experience well worth going to hell for. That is... if I were actually willing to accept my own damnation.

"Don't touch me, Anathema!" I snapped.

"Feh! You're only upset because I interrupted your sulk!" Amira slinked around behind me. "What if I make it up to you?" She teased seductively. The most skilled courtesan in the Imperial City could not have done it better. I very nearly dropped my guard _again_.

I took her wrists and forced her off of me, shoving her in the direction of the trees. "Damnit, Amira!" I snapped.

"Ahah!" Amira exclaimed, pointing at me and bouncing up and down with glee. " _Liar_!"

I realized that she'd never actually _said_ her name, and by speaking it I'd just proven that her beloved "Alexander" _was_ inside my head. I took a deep breath. Amira had won. She'd gotten exactly what she'd come back for... a confession from me. There would be no living with her now.

"Sir?" A young soldier inquired, turning the corner. "Are you all right?"

"It's nothing," I replied quickly, hoping that Amira was gone. Though I did not trust her, I knew that I could not turn her over to Mnemon Rai who would certainly kill her without hesitation. Worse still, Amira was powerfully beautiful. It would have been an unbearable thing to see such perfect skin torn, and those mesmerizing eyes without the light of life in them. I remembered that she had very nearly died in my arms once before, and I felt compelled to protect her.

Or no... that had happened to Alexander! Why couldn't I tell the difference between his memories and my own?

"Continue with your patrol!" I ordered. The young soldier nodded and went on his way.

When I turned back to where she had been, Amira had vanished without a trace.

I slept well that night, undisturbed by dreams of the past. It had been very cold in my tent for some weeks, but when I woke in the morning I felt as warm as I might have been sleeping next to a fire at home. There were traces of silver hairs on my blanket, and I noticed several canine footprints leading off towards the river. Even after I'd cursed at her and pushed her away twice, Amira had slipped into my tent and secretly curled up at the foot of my cot. Clearly, she was incorrigible.

A single red rose lay next to my sword. I picked it up and took in its scent, which was not what I expected at all, but a familiar perfume.

It was very difficult not to be swept into Alexander's love for Amira, especially when she tormented and teased me. It was not only a physical attraction either, although that was the part I found most distracting. I could scarcely keep my mind on affairs of the present, as much as I desired to see her again. I decided I would try to kiss her once before I departed for home, just to see if the taste of her lips was as sweet as I remembered it, like the very first peach of summer.

She never returned.

Five days after Amira's second visit, my ship arrived, and I set sail for the Blessed Isle. I expected that Amira would make an appearance until we were miles out on the open sea. I could not decide if I wanted her to stop me or not.

Although I was fulfilling my duty to my family, I feared that I was running away from something bigger and infinitely more important than the affairs of House Cathak. For lack of a better way to put it, I smelled a touch of destiny in the air.


	4. Chapter 3- Art and Warfare (Loren)

**Chapter 3**

 **Art** **and** **Warfare**

After Jaret's funeral, I hoped to be sent back to Mnemon Rai immediately, but my Aunt Garel fell ill and decided that I should care for her. What was originally a delay of some months lengthened into nearly ten years as my aunt recovered and worsened more times than I could count. I often wondered if I would be sitting at her bedside helping her page through old books for the rest of my insignificant life. It was good to be close to her and to hear her stories again, but I ached to be out in the field. I would rise before dawn and go over my forms just to feel the sensation of a sword in my hand. It was like air to me. I couldn't live without it.

Though he understood familial duties as well as any Dynast, Mnemon Rai was unwilling to count me as a permanent loss. He found work for me to do on the Blessed Isle, the sort that he personally detested. I became his political liaison in certain circles, helping him to recruit and train young officers with skill and potential. While many Dragonblooded scoffed at being asked to deal with a mere mortal, very few were willing to provoke Mnemon Rai… or my father, for that matter.

My father was very pleased to have me assume Aunt Garel's duties of managing our House so that he could focus on his Scarlet Legion, and my stepmother could dabble in politics as she preferred to. I became master of all the servants, in charge of the monthly expenses, and disciplinarian of the children. And whenever I had a moment away from the affairs of House Cathak, I immediately stepped back into my role as Mnemon Rai's chief secretary.

I applied myself diligently. Since I was not a "Prince of the Earth" and never would be, I was so far beneath notice that no one, not even the members of my own family seemed to remember what _year_ I had been born in. Of course, that was to my benefit… it kept them from asking why I had not aged a day since Jaret's death.

One might wonder how was I able to avoid being detected for so long. For the most part, it was very easy not to show the world something I did not want to believe in myself. I was able to avoid particularly tense situations because I was not a Dragonblood. My House never needed me for anything overtly political, and the Exaltation of my young cousin Teric gave my father someone else to train as his heir.

At first, I simply filled my schedule with perpetuating domestic harmony and sifting through mountains of paperwork, but it was not long before those simple tasks left me feeling bored, anxious and irritable. I took up playing Gateway, a popular game in the Imperial City and saw in it an outlet for my burning desire to think strategically. Most famously, I beat Ledaal Kes in a match which left him sore and fuming for several months. How could a mere mortal have bested him at a game which he considered himself to be the unparalleled champion of?

Now I suspect he probably knows.

Following my Aunt Garel's death, I read my way through her entire voluminous library. I took on as many styles of martial arts as I could fit into my already complicated schedule, begging lessons from the most exclusive and demanding masters on the Blessed Isle. As my own knowledge increased, I augmented the usual training regime of would-be Winds with new drills I devised myself. Impressed with the quality of the recruits that I turned out, several Winglords from other Legions requested that I come to instruct their soldiers.

After effortlessly whipping two impatient young Dragonblooded in a demonstration match, I realized that if I did not want to draw attention to myself, I would have to be very careful.

I asked my father if I could have the use of his old hunting lodge, which was located on a lake some miles north of the Imperial City. I told him that I wished to meditate and could not do so at home. Smiling slightly, he called me by my old nickname, "Little Monk", and told me to go "refresh my spirit", provided that I promised to return before the entirety of our House was reduced to a state of chaos. With forty-three relatives and all of their respective servants living virtually on top of one another within the confines of those walls, I knew that I had less than a week.

Still, my first trip to my father's hunting lodge went far better than I'd ever hoped it might. In that place of solitude, I found that I was able to train as I preferred to, _brutally_. I was no longer compelled to intentionally miss the target when I shot my bow, or feign exhaustion when I had only just begun to run. There was no one to tell me what I could not do or what I should not be capable of. I had become my own master.

Going over familiar sword patterns in my father's rock garden with only the rhythmic sound of the water clock to pass the time, I was more at peace than I had been in all the years since my brother's death. Working hard enough to sweat was the only thing that quieted my thoughts, my real meditation. The frightening thing was, the more I trained, the more quickly I exceeded all of the limitations that I'd ever believed I had.

Roach, who was still technically my "student" became increasingly annoyed with me as my private retreats became more frequent than his lessons. He chafed at being left alone in the hostile quarters of House Cathak, where he was treated as a sort of unwelcome pet. I trusted Roach more than I trusted most of my relatives, but every time I considered telling him my secret, a sick feeling welled up in my gut and I remembered my brother running his blade through me.

It became so that I spent the first week of every month working for Mnemon Rai, the two middling weeks running my father's household, and the last few days alone up at the lake.

When I was certain that no one was following me to my retreat, I began to attempt exercises far more daring than cutting stacks of cane. Though I still believed that I was damned, any student of martial arts knows that only a fool carries a weapon he cannot wield. A dagger that a man cannot use is all too quickly turned against him... and how much worse would it be for me if I could not control the enormous power that I possessed?

I decided to experiment with my own Essence. I had my dreams for guidance and I had secretly listened in on many lectures given by Ledaal Tsumi, a well-known master of the Water Dragon style. Once I understood that Essence could not only burn, it could flow… I instinctively understood how to improve my training regime.

The results of my first few ignorant attempts left me questioning if there could be something wrong with the world I lived in, if people were mistaken about the power wielded by the Anathema. I had always been told that it was demon-born, dark and uncontrollable… but to me it felt very different, as pure as a sutra on the lips of a saint.

I discovered that I could jump huge distances, and I found myself a mountaintop perch on the far eastern side of the lake. I began going there every morning before dawn to watch the sun rise. If the God of the Sun knew that I was waiting to hear from him, he gave no sign of it. My meditations did not help me to find the answers to any of my questions either, but the transcendent beauty of that place left me compelled to return. I sought inside myself the stillness of the lake, and let my ancient dreams take me away.

On the tenth anniversary of Jaret's death, I emerged from my morning meditations shaking so badly that I could barely stand. It was still very early, and there was a heaviness in the air that made me expect rain. As fast as I could, I made my way down the mountain and through the woods to the back door of my father's hunting lodge. I splashed my face several times with the nearly green water from the rain barrel near the door, and then stumbled into the dark kitchen like a drunkard, not bothering to light a lamp. I didn't need one.

Because I had been using it so freely, the Essence all around me was flaring bright as day... or brighter, given the clouds gathered overhead. As the sun had cleared the mountains on the horizon line and pierced the morning fog, one of my most pressing questions had been finally been answered. I knew what had happened to my former self.

I had always known that the Dragonblooded had once served the Anathema. Their revolt against tyranny was the very cornerstone that the Realm was built upon. But nothing could have prepared me for the experience of witnessing that legendary rebellion from the opposing side, the horror I felt in seeing my friends killed and my home burning to the ground. What the Dragonblooded had done was far worse than salting the earth… it was absolute _desecration_ , something akin to painting a temple with blood.

The Realm _had_ _to_ call us demons! They had to turn people against us while we were still weak, and destroy us all before we regained the strength that we had once possessed! For many centuries, it had been their greatest fear that we would return… and that _we_ would remember! There was no possibility that they would defeat us a second time. What hope could the "Princes of the Earth" have against the rightful Lords of all Creation?

The sickness that welled up inside of me, knowing that the beautiful world I had seen in my dreams had been destroyed by the heroes of my childhood was too much to bear. I wanted nothing more than to run to the nearest Immaculate Monastery and tear everything off of the walls! Was everything that I had ever believed nothing more than a pack of lies?

"Hello?" A familiar voice wondered. "Cousin? Loren? Are you in there?"

I froze. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my cousin Teric and friend of his standing in the doorway of the hunting lodge. They were carrying their bows, and enough supplies for a weekend trip.

"Hunh. Guess he must be out," Teric observed, stepping inside.

"Your cousin lives up here all alone?" His friend inquired. She was clearly a Wood-Aspect with a nose that made me suspect House Sesus.

"On and off. He used to be a soldier, but he lost his nerve after his brother was killed. Now he runs our servants around and spends the rest of his time hiding from the world. Uncle Chiron basically gave him this house," Teric explained. "Which is a bit stupid, because you know… _I_ asked for it first. And Uncle told _me_ 'no'."

I'd never guessed that Teric had been so interested in my father's lodge and was secretly pleased that my father had withheld it from him.

"Loren's useless! He's just a mortal… he'll be dead in twenty years! I don't know why everybody is so soft on him!" Teric snorted.

"I think it's because he's _nice_. And you're a _jerk_!" the girl teased, elbowing Teric. "Look at all of these broken swords! What has he been doing?" She approached the table, observing my stack of books. "Advanced Military Engineering? Famous Generals of the Early Shogunate? That's some light reading, eh? Who does he think he is, Cathak himself?"

Teric didn't reply. He was staring directly at me, as if he could see through the walls to the spot where I hid. I flattened myself against the door and prayed that he hadn't used a Charm to detect my presence, though it was obvious that he'd noticed something. "Shh!" He hissed. "Someone is here."

"Your cousin?" The girl suggested, elbowing Teric playfully.

"No. Whoever it is, they've been burning Essence. _A_ _lot_ of it," Teric paused, sounding very apprehensive. He paused momentarily. "Kira, your necklace is glowing."

"Hunh? Oh my, it is!" She observed, holding up the little piece of golden stone. "It's never done that before. It was a gift from my grandmother. She said it... _oh_. Oh no." She suddenly gasped.

"What?" Teric wondered uneasily.

"It's supposed to _detect_ Anathema," Kira replied.

" _Anathema_?" Teric blinked in disbelief.

I didn't need to hear that word twice. I bolted, accidentally throwing the door off of its hinges as I fled. The sickness I had felt only moments before evaporated like dew and I became a hunted animal, as certain of my own evil nature as I had been of my innocence.

 _Anathema._ _Monster._

I could hear Teric and Kira following after me, but they were far enough behind that I was sure they couldn't see anything more than a golden light blazing through the forest. An arrow laced with fire came within inches of my shoulder as I raced towards the falls. Without hesitation, I leapt the chasm in a single bound and kept running.

Teric and Kira skidded to a stop on the edge of the cliff.

"Did you see that? That… that _was_ a demon! A real demon, _here_ on the Blessed Isle! I… I've got to warn my uncle!" Teric stammered.

"What about your cousin?" Kira demanded.

"Forget Loren, he's probably dead!" The last thing I heard from Teric was a string of unintelligible curse words. When I was sure that I was no longer being followed, I sat down and attempted to compose myself until I stopped burning like a bonfire.

It took me several hours to muster up enough courage to return to the Imperial City. The sun had nearly gone down, and I was no longer glowing when I arrived, but I still felt that I was very close to revealing my terrible secret, and I feared that someone would sense all the Essence I had burned in my escape. I had never heard of a stone that could _detect_ Anathema before, but it made sense that if such a thing existed, someone from House Sesus would know about it. Many of their children went to study sorcery at the Heptagram in lieu of military school. My father did not trust sorcerers, and even being an "Anathema" myself, I was still inclined to believe that most people who invested so much in something so capricious were up to no good.

I tried to head directly for the port where I might find a ship to steal away on, hoping not to see anyone I knew and not caring where I found myself, so long as it was as far from my home as possible. I almost jumped out of my skin as I passed Roach and some of the Winds drinking at the local tavern.

"Boss!" Roach exclaimed. The men jumped to their feet and saluted. Though I hadn't left the Imperial City in years, Mnemon Rai had long since named me Fanglord, and I officially commanded all the Winds who were on the Blessed Isle, regardless of whether they were serving in an administrative capacity, on leave, or in training. Though I preferred not to lord my status over anyone, I was one promotion short of Talonlord, the highest rank a mere mortal could hold.

No one seemed surprised to see me dressed simply in my monkish training clothes and not my official lamellar armor.

"C'mon, drink with us!" One of the soldiers gestured to an empty chair. "We were just talking about Chiarascuro. You've been there, haven't you, sir? You know all about the hungry ghosts and the salt lines I bet."

I nodded. Roach grinned proudly. I could tell he'd been sharing stories of our great "adventures" again. He was a substantial part of the reason that my reputation was as overblown as it was.

"Well, we just got back. Hot as hell there this time of year. Killed ourselves another Anathema. This one was a big ol' bull, one of the Frenzied with half an army of crazy cultists! They must have known they couldn't win, but they charged us anyway. Cut through the rest quick enough, but the Anathema was unstoppable! Now it may be heresy to say so, but it was _amazing_ , like nothin' I'd ever seen! Old Thunderstormer put em' down." The soldier grinned broadly. "Good fight. You should've been there."

I forced a weak smile.

"Anyway, take a look at this! Found it out in the desert." He pulled something wrapped in a handkerchief out of his satchel and held it up for my examination. It was a golden ball the size of my fist.

"It's orichalcum," he informed me. "It looks like gold, but it's heavier than lead and harder than steel. The Anathema used to make _everything_ out of it."

His companion snorted with distaste.

"Go on, sir! Have a look!" He rolled the ball across the table in my direction. I picked it up with one hand, and the men blinked in surprise. I realized belatedly that it was probably very heavy, but I did not bother to wince. Most of the soldiers in the Winds already thought that I was ridiculously strong.

Of course, they had _no idea_.

I slowly ran my fingers across the nearly invisible designs etched into the smooth surface of the ball. Though I had never held such a thing in my present life, the way the metal responded to my touch was unmistakable. My Essence flowed through it as easily as it flowed through my body.

It _was_ orichalcum!

I immediately wanted to keep it.

"You picked up some Anathema junk?" Roach raised an eyebrow at the soldier. "You do realize that you shouldn't do that, right?"

I said nothing. I was still feeling the effects of my long meditation, and more importantly, I was holding a physical object that had survived from the long-ago First Age, the days of the Solar Deliberative. The word "Anathema" did not even occur to me. It rang unusually harsh and false on my ears as Roach spoke it.

"It's just a hunk of metal," the soldier responded.

"Old Thunderstormer won't like it," Roach informed him. "Boss?"

I ignored him. I was lost in the past, staring at that relic of a world gone from memory. I unthinkingly fueled the ball with some more Essence, and smiled slightly as it responded. It started to feel warm and light in my grasp, less like a cannonball and more like a child's plaything. In a sputter of golden light, the ball unfolded into a delicate little flying contraption. It looked like an insect, and it hovered for a moment just above my head, evaluating me with interest.

"Whoa!" Roach exclaimed. A familiar sensation made me worry that I had revealed myself, but even if the mark on my brow _was_ almost visible, the construct that I'd awakened was impossible to ignore. Golden Essence bled from the creature as it shot into a violent upward spiral. The men who'd brought the thing were as surprised as I was, and they immediately dropped to the ground. Roach drew his sword.

When the construct had gone up about a hundred feet, it froze in midair and then suddenly dropped, zooming across our table like an out-of-control firework. All of our drinks shattered, and a girl shrieked in terror as the thing shot in her direction. I leapt in front of her to stop it, but what I hadn't anticipated was the speed at which the creature was flying. It took me straight into the wall, and then exploded in my face. The force was enough to stun me, which meant that it might have _killed_ someone else. The soldiers all gathered around me and stared in disbelief.

" _This,_ " I slowly rose to my feet and dropped the burnt-out core of the construct in front of the man who'd first thrown it to me. It hit the table with a heavy clunk. "Is why you _never_ bring home souvenirs!"

"Sorry! Very sorry, sir! It'll never happen again, sir!" He looked embarrassed and bowed more than once.

I excused myself. Though I'd been in a hurry to escape the Blessed Isle a few hours ago, I'd decided that I couldn't go anywhere in my current condition. At very least, I needed to wash the soot off my face and change my clothes. I didn't stop walking until I made it home, slipped through the gates of Aunt Garel's neglected garden and collapsed into the soft grass near the koi pond. A shower of cherry blossoms brought me back, not to the familiar days of my childhood, but to an afternoon many centuries ago when Amira and I had danced together. The lines between my dreams and my reality were blurring. I was beginning to _think_ like a demon, to do things that would prove what I was without even considering the consequences! And I knew with sick certainty that it was only a matter of time before I would be detected.

Some hours later, I returned to the main house. The first thing I learned was that a letter had arrived for me. My father was reading it when I stepped into his library, a very grave expression on his face. I knew that I had beaten my cousin and his friend back to the city but I still expected them to come charging in at any moment with their tale of my disappearance and the terrible Anathema they'd stumbled upon.

"Loren? You're back?" He observed.

"I left early this morning. There's a thief poking around your hunting lodge," I paused. "Things have disappeared. At first I thought it was animals, stealing food… but then some of my clothes went missing off of the laundry line. I thought you should know." The lie was surprisingly easy to swallow. When my cousin and his friend returned, their story would corroborate my own. If Teric had seen me well enough to describe me at all, he would tell my father that the Anathema had been a tall blonde man wearing a white jacket and red training pants. There were many stories about demons impersonating their victims, so it seemed reasonable. Though I hated deceiving my father, I was not in a hurry to be hunted down and executed.

"Heh. Taught the villain a lesson, I hope," he replied.

"I haven't caught him yet," I sighed, doing my best to sound defeated.

"Well, perhaps your cousin Teric will have better luck. He left for my lodge this morning with one of his friends. I don't know how you missed them on the road." My father nodded.

"I've no idea. Maybe they passed me when I stopped to rest?" I suggested.

Dragonbloods are never surprised to hear mortals complain about being tired. I used the excuse of "taking a nap" frequently because it was always believed. If anyone ever found out how little I actually slept, I was sure they would guess my secret.

"So what is this letter about?" I wondered.

"Well, I wasn't going to disturb your meditation with it, but I suppose you have a right to know. Mnemon Rai thinks he's tracked down the fae that killed Jaret. The spider woman you described. He wants you to board the first available ship for the Scavenger Lands."

"The Winglord has asked for me personally? To hunt her down? I'd be very happy to do that," I paused, knowing that things were certainly more complicated than my father was making them sound.

"Well, apparently he's also had some trouble with Sesus Calil that he wants you to settle," my father admitted. Of course, he wouldn't forbid me from taking revenge on the monsters that had murdered my brother, but I could tell from the expression on his face that he would prefer it if I continued working for Mnemon Rai in a bureaucratic capacity.

"Why? I'm no one. Why should I get between two Princes of the Earth?" I demanded.

My father sighed. "Loren, you have two of the most decorated demon-hunters in the Realm wrapped around your little finger... and you know it! Mnemon Rai has written me a dozen letters demanding that you be returned to the field as soon as possible because without _you_ , he thinks his entire Wing will rise up and trample him!" My father laughed. "Hesiesh as my witness, I shudder to think of what you might have been, were you only better bred!"

It was meant to be a compliment, and so I decided to take it as such.

"I suppose I'll be going then," I decided.

My father smiled slightly. "I've already packed your things."


	5. Chapter 4 - Called to Serve (Loren)

**Chapter 4**

 **Called to Serve**

Several hours after I received the letter from Mnemon Rai, Roach staggered into my room, drunk and grinning like a madman. He hated provincial soldiering, and often protested that nothing worthwhile ever happened so close to the Imperial City. All things considered, I was beginning to agree with him.

With my father's help, I sent orders to every member of the Winds stationed on the Blessed Isle. I almost lost my wits when my cousin Teric flew into the house jabbering about an Anathema murdering me and wearing my skin, but my father didn't take him seriously. He simply informed Teric that if he _had_ seen a real demon, it would _not_ have run away from _him_... and Teric meekly returned to his room.

According to Mnemon Rai, the Ravenous Winds had split into two Talons, one under the command of Sesus Calil. Talonlord Calil had recruited most of the higher-ranking Dragonblooded officers to his side, promising them better pay and quicker promotions. Of course, Mnemon Rai had retained nearly all of his enlisted men, particularly the veterans of many years and the new recruits I'd sent his way. Desperate to reunify the Winds, Mnemon Rai planned to send me as an emissary to Talonlord Calil's camp. In addition, he promised me a promotion I'd never dared imagine. Sesus Calil would retain his position if he could be persuaded to rejoin the Winds, but from the moment I landed in Nexus, I would be Mnemon Rai's first officer.

In less than two weeks I had gathered nearly a full Talon myself, a thing which made me feel deserving of the new insignia on my uniform. I'd pulled together men and women from every corner of the Blessed Isle, commandeered ships, and acquired supplies. I wasn't going to admit to Old Thunderstormer how I'd actually accomplished such a feat, but I had a feeling that he'd appreciate my results, if not my methods.

Over the course of my secret training, I'd discovered that the Essence I possessed could be used for much more than simply making light or augmenting my martial skills. A small, subtle application of power could also make ordinary words extraordinarily intimidating or convince people to work quickly and efficiently. The former was particularly useful on stubborn Dragonbloods, the latter on everyone else.

Our soldiers camped outside the city while Roach and I were received by my cousin Lao, the same relative I still considered partially responsible for Jaret's death. Though himself Exalted, Lao had never cared for the usual duties of a Dynast, military or politics, and had spend the better part of his sixty years building up investments which funneled a great deal of money into the coffers of House Cathak. He lived quite sumptuously in a residence on Sentinel Hill, and provided Roach and myself with everything we needed to embark upon the next leg of our journey. Since time was short, Roach and I would not stay in Nexus for long, but before we rode out to join Mnemon Rai, I needed to "recover" from our long sea voyage. Most of our soldiers were glad to have a few days rest. Some of the younger ones had been seasick since we left the Imperial City.

Feigning "mortal weakness" myself was the best way to hide the fact that I'd burned a significant amount of Essence securing our provisions, speeding our arrival, and ensuring that we didn't run into any snares with the local authorities. Even Lao, who harbored a certain distaste for complements of any kind, grudgingly admitted that he'd heard good things about me.

During my first visit to Nexus, I'd been serving as Jaret's keeper, and my second visit had been darkened by the circumstances of his death. Seeing the city again felt like visiting it for the first time, and I found it exceptionally exciting. Unlike the Imperial City, where Dragonblooded were always accorded special status, Nexus was a cornucopia of Exalts and Godbloods, restless spirits and fae-tainted wanderers. A dozen tiny, pale Djala, two Haltans with exotic birds perched on their shoulders, and one particularly large, dark-skinned Murqai caught my eye as I watched the teeming crowds of the Big Market.

In that vast sea of humanity, was it possible that _someone_ carried the same secret that I did? My first suspect was a Djala acrobat who was performing a balancing routine on a slack rope. But then again, what about that big Murqai who was leading a string of cattle towards the Brood Market? On the street corner across from him was a well-dressed merchant with the frosty complexion and pale hair that one would normally associate with an Air-Aspect Exalt. Perhaps, like me, one of those strangers was not what he seemed to be? Roach took in the scenery as I did, though he could not have known what thoughts were whirling through my head.

Roach and I were looking for a farrier to put a new shoe on his horse when we stumbled into trouble. There was a crowd gathering on the street between two bridges, and I felt compelled to see what they were staring at. If any of the local mercenaries had looked closely enough to identify that I was dressed in Imperial lamellar, they probably wouldn't have let me pass… but fortunately, whatever it was that had appeared at the end of Glassmaker's Alley seemed to have the undivided attention of the neighborhood.

"Excuse me, sir!" I tapped on the shoulder of the man nearest to me, a fat old merchant who jumped with a start. "What's going on up ahead?"

"You haven't seen?" He wondered incredulously.

"Obviously not. That's why I'm asking," I replied.

"It's a miracle, that's what it is! The Immaculates are blaming it on us but I will tell you, I've been a member of the Glassmaker's Guild for twenty years and there is not one artisan in all of Nexus who could have done such a thing! It is the work of a great god!" He whispered, a note of awe in his voice.

"Which god?" Roach wondered.

The merchant did not respond. I glanced at Roach. "I don't know if we should get in the middle of this, Boss," he admitted, watching over his shoulder nervously. Some mercenaries and craftsmen were involved in a shouting match with two monks that seemed to be rapidly escalating. There was likely to be a riot soon if someone didn't separate the firebrands on both sides of the crowd.

I smiled slightly. There was something in the air that I found impossible to ignore, my siren's song. I stepped forward, pulling my cloak aside to reveal my new insignia. Though revealing my identity as a Realm officer was not advisable in such a neighborhood, Talonlord was no mean rank. Anyone who held it was to be taken _very_ seriously, and there was a chance that I might even pass myself off as a Dragonblood if I kept my nose in the air.

Roach watched me as if he thought I'd lost my mind.

I drew on my Essence slightly as I cleared my throat. "Excuse me?"

The argument ceased immediately. The locals watched me warily, and the monks slowly turned around. They seemed surprised that I'd interrupted them.

"Forgive my intrusion," I said. "I am Talonlord Cathak Loren of the Ravenous Winds. My commander Mnemon Rai, is a personal friend of the Emissary of Nexus, and I have his special permission to visit your fine city. I could not help but notice that everyone on this street appears to be quite distressed. What seems to be the trouble?"

"These _mortals_ are revolting! They're spouting all sorts of heresy!" The leader of the monks snapped. He was an Earth Aspect, and quite a bit older than I'd suspected. Watching him spew curses at the craftsman, I'd initially appraised him as a young hothead. Clearly, he'd held his position of authority long enough that he wouldn't hesitate to abuse it. I wanted to take him down a notch very much.

As I had feared months before leaving the Blessed Isle, the "demon" inside of me had grown very strong. There was no longer a definitive line between the two of us, and I'd come to realize that there never had been. As a child, I'd been much more Alexander-like. If I'd become a Fire-Aspect, I would have grown into a man exactly like him. But when I failed to Exalt, I'd gotten used to taking "no" for an answer. Using Essence hadn't changed who I was. It had simply changed the position I found myself in. Now, I wasn't simply on equal footing with those who'd once forced me down. The power I possessed was already greater than anything they could imagine... and my gut told me that I had scarcely scratched the surface of what I was truly capable of.

"Heresy? That's quite the serious accusation... if this were the Imperial City. But to my knowledge, there are only two Laws enforced in Nexus, and you monks are breaking one of them by blocking off this street," I replied calmly. "Now will you kindly show me the nature of this problem before someone files a formal complaint with the Guild?"

The monks looked somber and considered what I had said. The crowd parted without a word and I stared in awe.

It was a magnificent fountain. Crafted from white marble, blue jade, and orichalcum, the fountain resembled a rising sun with rays that became hands as they reached down into the water. The design was geometrical and very clearly influenced by the marvels of the First Age. But more than that, it was _functional_! As the filthy muck of the canal entered into the heart of the machine, it was purged of all of its impurities.

I knelt down. When I put my hand on the fountain, I felt Essence flowing through it. The water I tasted in the jade-tiled pool was cooled to the temperature of a high mountain spring. In a word, it was _heavenly._

"I fail to see what your problem is. This water is perfectly clean," I replied, turning to the monks. "Would you prefer to drink from the river?" I didn't say anything about corpses floating down the Yanaze, although I had heard that the local Night Watch always checked the sandbar south of Glassmaker's Alley if they were looking for someone who might have been murdered.

A child of one of the artisans slipped behind the leader of the monks. He cupped his hands and stole a quick drink before disappearing back into the crowd. Having been born into a life of privilege, it touched my heart to know that the water from the fountain was probably the finest he had tasted in his young life.

The monks stared at me incredulously. "Don't you understand? This monstrosity glorifies the Anathema! Everyone who drinks from it will…" One of them began.

" _Not_ get sick?" I cut him off. "You monks ought to know how important clean water is! Someone went through a lot of trouble to build this fountain! Frankly, I'm amazed that they didn't demand a king's ransom to do it. It's a very generous gift."

"Look!" The leader of the monks seized me by my arm, and drug me around to the side of the fountain where a message was carved into the marble in elegant Old Realm. I pretended not to be able to read it. Of course, my dreams had given me a perfect comprehension of the ancient speech, but most soldiers did not know the language of the gods.

The monk did not wait for me to ask what it said. "Now do you understand? It glorifies the golden demon that the beasts serve. It was made by one of the Unclean!"

He pointed to the unmistakable symbol of the Twilight Caste, the legendary sorcerers and artisans of the First Age. I stared. I knew that the Twilight Caste's skill in crafting was unparalleled, the source of so many of the wonders I remembered from my previous life. The words carved in the pristine marble sent a shiver coursing down my spine.

 _"You see many stars at night in the sky but find them not when the sun rises; can you say that there are no stars in the heaven of day? So, O man! Because you behold not God in the days of your ignorance, say not that there is no God."_

"Scribbles," I frowned, forcing myself to sound stiff and annoyed. "There's ancient writing like this all over the Realm! No one _reads_ it!"

The monks did not respond. Their leader seemed to be hesitating, which meant that I was winning the argument. I pushed him a little with my Essence, and he finally swallowed his wagging tongue. I didn't want to hear anymore barking about heresy. I wanted a moment of peace.

As a child I had been a great believer in Immaculate philosophy. Though everything that I had ever believed told me that I was now a demon, when I looked up at the sun I could feel the Essence churning in my veins, almost as if I were on the verge of boiling over. For a moment, I thought I felt a familiar hand resting on my shoulder.

As filthy, violent and corrupt as Nexus was, part of me remembered what it had once been, more than a thousand years ago. _Our little pastoral paradise_ , as Perfect would say.

I blinked in surprise. Though Amira was certainly the most important person in Alexander's life, she was not the only one I'd come to know. Often in my dreams, I'd found myself in the company of a woman called Perfect Mechanical Soul. From what I remembered of her, Perfect preferred to spend most of her time tinkering or with her nose in a book. A Twilight Caste sorceress and artificer, she was renowned for her machines which behaved like living creatures... and her spectacular waterworks.

"Boss?" Roach tugged on my cloak.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I said, not caring who heard.

I expected that Roach would snort and make some ridiculous comment as he usually did when something particularly ostentatious was shown to him, but he only smiled. "I've never seen anything like it," he replied honestly. "But we should probably get out of here now."

The Immaculates were leaving Glassmaker's Alley with a fair amount of pushing and shoving through the crowd. The locals returned to business as usual. Despite the fact that I was a Realm soldier, no one got in my way. Some even smiled, and one merchant gave me a meat bun wrapped in paper. I passed it to Roach who cheerfully wolfed the thing down in one bite. He was always hungry, which made it easy to distract him. My mind, however, was still on the fountain.

I looked up at the sun again, only barely visible through the clouds of smoke and ash drifting across the river from the Nighthammer District. "What do you want me to do?" I asked, not realizing that I had spoken loud enough to be heard. Roach gave me an odd look, but then another street vendor passed him something else to eat. The sun gave no answer, but as my gaze drifted slowly back to the fountain, I began to realize that I had no need to ask such a question.

It is somewhat sobering to realize that the task laid before you is nothing less than the transformation of the entire world.

We returned to our accommodations without incident. Dinner at Cousin Lao's was tolerable, better than camp food but nothing to write home about. I waited until everyone in the household was asleep and then stole out through a window.

At the time of Jaret's death, I'd been too numbed by everything that had happened to me to see Nexus clearly. If I'd looked further ahead than the back of the man in front of me, I certainly would have recognized the ruins that I now remembered so well. While the world of my dreams had been destroyed centuries ago, a pale shadow of it still existed under the layers of filth that made up modern Nexus. I wandered down the shadowy streets and went first to a bridge that I'd seen earlier in the day. I'd heard it called "the Bridge of Whispers" and everything about it felt intimately familiar to me. A few drunks and whores passed by, but none of them paused long enough to notice that I was reading the ancient inscription on the pedestal of a headless marble god.

 _"Given this 7th day of Ascending Fire to the People of Nexus by its co-regents, Alexander_ _the Faeslayer, Exalted of the Dawn Caste, Sword of the Deliberative and Perfect Mechanical Soul, Exalted of the Twilight Caste, Fourth Grandmaster Artificer and Supreme Engineer of the East."_

I touched the name Alexander. It was scarcely legible, but in my mind's eye I could see it as it had appeared when it was newly carved. I'd imagined _nothing!_ Everything that I had dreamt had been real, but too long past for anyone to remember it!

The near riot I'd diffused earlier had convinced me that Nexus was in dire need of some law and order, the kind that I felt compelled to mete out. While I was still intent on finding a way to help Mnemon Rai, I decided that it would soothe my nerves and allow me to get some sleep if I found a few scoundrels to punish before the sun came up. I'd disguised myself fairly well, and I doubted that anyone I knew would recognize me. By being a blatantly obvious target, I intended to draw out the snakes from their nests.

It did not take me long to find my first mark. A girl, probably a whore, was standing on the bridge holding her flimsy cloak pulled tight to her chest. She was very young and much too thin, but she had lovely black hair that was braided all the way down her back. She walked at a fair clip, her eyes fixed on the ground as if she thought that she was being followed.

She was _._

The man who pursued her was exactly the kind of scum I'd been hoping for. As he passed me where I stood, still intend on pursuing the girl… I put my foot out in his path to draw his attention. He did not stumble, but he stopped and stared at me.

"What do you want?" He demanded.

"I couldn't help but notice that you were following that young woman," I replied. "Bad form. That's no way to treat a lady."

"She's a whore, man. Are you her brother or something?" He demanded.

"No," I replied, smiling slightly. "Just a concerned citizen. If she is a whore as you say, then approach her in a straightforward manner and pay her properly. If she's not a whore or if she's refused your business already, you should be on your way home."

"You talk too much." The man brushed me off, clearly annoyed. His eyes still followed the woman.

I stopped his hand.

That did it. The mugger took a great sloppy swing at my head, and I turned his own momentum against him, throwing him into the dirt. Brushing off my hands, I decided that I had made my point and began to walk away. Though I hadn't seen a weapon on his person before, the thug produced a sword from the folds of his cloak and thrust at me with it.

Evading that maneuver was even easier than dodging his first punch had been. I pushed him into the nearest wall and disarmed him effortlessly. As he scrambled to retrieve his weapon, I struck the brick near him as a warning, accidentally shattering my own sword to pieces.

It was not the first time I had destroyed a blade in such a manner, so it did not surprise me. It did, however, surprise the mugger who fled without a backward glance. The girl had disappeared, but I still had the strong impression that I was being watched.

I looked up. Above me stood a masked figure cloaked in white who could only have been the most infamous phantom in the Scavenger Lands, the Emissary himself! And what did this being, in reputation a terrible enforcer of justice, think of a stranger patrolling his streets? Nothing, it seemed. He gave no sign of displeasure at any rate. But he must have shown himself for some reason, as he could have certainly escaped my notice had he chosen to. The two of us stared at one another for what felt like a very long time. Then, when it must have been obvious that I did not intend to run away, the Emissary _saluted_ me.

It was not the kind of salute that any soldier or officer of the Realm would use. I felt the blood freeze in my veins as I realized that most infamous man in Nexus had just shown me the same deference one would have accorded to the Sword of the Solar Deliberative, commander of the armies of all Creation. He _knew_ I was Alexander!

"Wait!" I shouted, chasing after him as he bounded away. Fast as I was, the Emissary was much faster. When I was sure that I'd lost him, I sat down for a long while and stared up at the night sky, my mind whirling. Was the Emissary a god? Was he Anathema himself? How did he know my secret?

Sighing in defeat, I went to fetch the shattered blade of my sword. I'd had my fill of adventure for one night, but before returning to bed, there was one more place I intended to visit.

Without fighting my way across the daily chaos of the Big Market, it did not take me very long to reach the fountain in Glassmaker's Alley. It was even more beautiful at night than it had been during the day. I sat down and ran my fingers through the crystal clear water. The water reflected the moonlight, and the flickers of Essence which powered the device sparkled golden in the dark.

As enamored as I was of the fountain, at first I did not notice that I had company. An old woman sat on the street opposite of me. There was something about her that caught my attention immediately, and I knew without a doubt that she was no mere mortal, but a goddess.

Though little gods were everywhere in Creation, the Immaculate Order disapproved of their usual meddling and so they tended not to show themselves. When I first started learning to use my Essence, I'd noticed eyes watching me from the trees. The local gods who lived around my father's lakeside retreat clearly took interest in what I was doing, but they always kept their distance from me. I'd tried to talk to them with little success. Usually when I called attention to their presence, they simply fled.

I'd never had a conversation with a god before, and all of the things I wanted to ask were nearly bursting out of me. Did the gods know anything about the real history of the Anathema? Were the Dragonblooded of ancient times heroes or were they horrible villains? How I could speak to the God of the Sun? I had many questions for him. Of course, when I did find words, I wasn't as articulate as I'd hoped to be.

"Are you a god?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, don't mind me," the goddess replied, flashing me a smile of very white teeth. "I'm just saying goodbye, that's all."

"Goodbye?" I echoed in confusion.

"Well, this lovely, lovely thing was lost for a very long time ago and I must admit, I grew rather fond of it. But now it's found again, and so that's that," she replied, running her gnarled fingers along the marble. The strange manner in which the old woman spoke seemed familiar to me, and though I did not know her name, I felt certain that we'd met before.

"Do I know you?" I wondered.

"Do _you_ know _me_?" The goddess cackled. "I should hope so, lost king of Nexus!"

I said nothing in response, though I did feel compelled to stand a little straighter, which was much the same as acknowledging what I had been called.

Though anyone on the streets could have guessed that I was a soldier masquerading as a beggar, I knew that gods perceived Essence as it naturally flowed, even when it wasn't visible to most eyes. I'd gotten used to them whispering all sorts of flowery sobriquets, but " _King_ _of_ _Nexus_ " was a new title, and I could not decide how to react to it. Of course, I'd seen the names inscribed on the Bridge of Whispers. Still, it was difficult to imagine that the beautiful city of my dreams had degenerated into one enormous slum. Then again, it _had_ been a very long time.

"Oh, my, my! Look at you! Such a _treasure_ you are!" The goddess smirked. "I'd love to take you just as you are now, put you in a box and keep you! Yes! But I won't do it! I won't! I'll just _think_ about doing it, about keeping you forever all quiet and safe. A lost king of a lost city, a lost general of a lost army of a lost empire... all so lovely and lost! Oooh! It's almost too much, even for me!" She fanned herself dramatically.

"You're Madame Marthacine!" I exclaimed, realizing at once whom I was speaking with. Though paying too much attention to gods outside of the Perfect Hierarchy was a minor blasphemy, there were some powers whose names were readily invoked, even in a Dynast's household.

Madame Marthacine was the goddess of Lost Things. She was blamed for every piece of silk or silver that went missing, and her name was commonly invoked by frustrated servants searching the entire garden for one "precious" earring. I'd always considered her a minor sort of deity, but that was before I'd known how different the world had once been. Entire cities had vanished from the face of Creation, and those that remained, like Nexus, were unrecognizable. The glorious world of the First Age was completely buried and forgotten. So much had been lost! As the sole keeper of such secrets, Madame Marthacine was a powerful goddess indeed.

"I am." She bowed dramatically. Her advanced age was suddenly a superficial thing, as she stood straighter and drifted closer to me with impossible grace. "So riddle me this, Lord Faeslayer. I was speaking with a friend of mine recently, and of all the _most_ unexpected things… _your_ _name_ came up! Certainly strange to hear such a thing whispered by those who traffic in secrets, although it wasn't always. It has come to my attention that you will soon find my _greatest_ lost treasure!"

"If that's so, shouldn't you be trying to stop me?" I pressed, noting that Madame Marthacine had called me "Faeslayer". It was a nickname I heard often in my dreams. Perfect always called me Faeslayer. Was Madame Marthacine's "friend" Perfect? Was Perfect in Nexus as I already suspected? Was the fountain her creation? Could Perfect be the Emissary? I certainly couldn't discount the possibility.

Madame Marthacine laughed. "Oh my, my! Milord, nothing creates such _interest_ in _things_ _lost_ as _things miraculously_ _found!_ I shall have prayers by the thousands!" She replied. "Of course, I cannot tell you what you should be looking for, nor where you should begin your search… but I eagerly anticipate your immanent _finding_!" Madame Marthacine paused. It seemed that there was something else she wished to say, but for some reason, she could not simply say it.

"I don't understand," I confessed.

"Alas, I'm not at liberty to tell you more, my dear little lostling," she replied. "Think very hard and tread most carefully! There are clues everywhere in this city... you've just got to put them all together. Trust _no_ _one_."

"Except for you?" I hazarded a guess.

"No, no, no!" The goddess wagged a disapproving finger in my direction. "I'm only a minor goddess! And I owe a _terrible_ amount of favors! If you don't want to end up lost on the bottom of the Yanaze River, you'd best never mention this conversation!" She advised.

"Well, thank you for your honesty, I suppose," I paused.

"Oh, my, my! How polite you are! I do so love that!" Madame Marthacine leaned close to me and whispered in my ear. "Very well, I shall assist you if I can!" Then she smirked mischievously, bowed, and then vanished as she had never been, a shadow melting in the moonlight.

I returned to my cousin's house, but nothing could persuade me to sleep. I had seen far too many eyes watching me on my short trip back across town and I knew that they belonged, not to ordinary mortals, but to hordes of little gods and a few small, wild-eyed fae. I paced back and forth for the better part of an hour considering everything that Madame Marthacine hadn't said. Something very important _was_ about to happen. I felt it in my bones.

In the morning Roach packed our supplies, and the two of us bid farewell to my cousin, joining our makeshift Talon outside of the city on the road heading east. We met Mnemon Rai at sunset, and he was glad to see us. He opened up a bottle of the best wine I'd ever tasted, at least in my current lifetime. Of course, it paled in comparison to the exquisite things I remembered from the First Age... but I wasn't going to tell him that.

A week passed in camp. I hadn't realized how badly I wanted to escape from behind a desk until I was in the field again. Mnemon Rai was amused by my eagerness to take on even the most monotonous of tasks, and he reminded me several times that as a Talonlord I did not need to stand watch or rise before dawn to conduct drills. The business with Calil that I had been summoned for still needed to be settled after all, and _that_ was something only I could do.

We talked the matter over in a surprisingly candid manner. Though we had exchanged thousands of letters, I had not actually spoken to Mnemon Rai in a very long while. I was surprised at how our relationship had changed. He did not give me orders, he simply proposed ideas, and then asked me what I thought. All the while we spoke, he smiled.

"Thank the Dragons you're here, Cathak," he said.

It was very nice to be appreciated by Mnemon Rai, but the weight of my secret hung like lead around my neck. He could not know what had happened to me. He could _never_ know, and that realization made me sick. There was nothing more liberating than wielding the power I possessed. The more I called upon it, the more I felt that it was a necessary thing, meant for good. But if I had to hide it forever, then what? I felt like I would rot from the inside. I hated lying, particularly to those who trusted me.

Our scouts reported that Sesus Calil was camped only about forty miles away. I decided that I would travel with just a single Scale. Though Calil liked me as much as he liked anyone, he would not be pleased to hear that I'd been promoted again, and would probably loathe the fact that Roach was now _my_ first officer. Mnemon Rai agreed that taking a humble stance was my best chance of winning Calil over, though he was worried about the fae. I promised him I would turn back immediately if I saw any signs of Wyld.

For two days we headed east, and everything went well. On the third night, the fae attacked. The boy on watch raised the alarm, but he was not quick enough to avoid the slashing claws of an enormous, ugly goblin. I wasn't really sleeping when he gasped for breath and fell at my feet, but I had kicked off my boots and left my sword attached to my saddle.

I seized the weapon closest to me, a jade daiklave belonging one of my young Dragonblooded subordinates. Ignoring the reactions of shock and awe from my soldiers, I killed four goblins with it before retrieving my own sword. It didn't occur to me how heavy the weapon was until I tossed it to its owner and nearly knocked him into a tree. Everyone else was slow getting on their feet, but I bought them time. The battle spun around me as if I were the only man fighting. When the fae began to whispering and retreating, I realized that I had burned almost enough Essence to reveal my secret. Paralyzing fear overcame me, and in my hesitation, the fae regrouped and struck again.

I wanted to fight harder... I knew that I _could_ , but not without everyone seeing the mark on my brow. I'd discovered years ago that when it started burning it couldn't be hidden, not by a scarf, or even by a helmet. As Alexander might have said, the Unconquered Sun _wanted_ Creation to recognize his Chosen. I was certain that the god had never imagined what the Realm would one day do to Anathema.

When the fae were finally defeated, I'd lost nearly half of my soldiers. I sat with my head buried in my hands for over an hour, utterly disgusted with myself.

I could feel my mark beginning to flicker, and I rationalized my cowardice by reminding myself that if someone had seen, I would have been forced to hurt the same people I was trying to protect. Though I understood that stepping back was the only logical choice, it still felt wrong. I was responsible for the deaths I'd witnessed... not because I hadn't fought, but because I'd chosen not drawn down the full, terrible wrath of Heaven.

Keeping my promise to Mnemon Rai, I immediately sent a messenger back to the Winds on my horse. Soon after she left, a carrier pigeon landed on Roach with a message from Talonlord Calil. Calil had been attacked by the fae as well, and he'd taken heavy losses. Though I had no help to bring him, it sounded as though he was probably closer than Mnemon Rai, and if he still had at least four-hundred men, he would certainly be able to spare someone to tend to my wounded.

Knowing Calil as well as I did, I knew that there was no point in sending him one of my green recruits. If I expected any help from him, I would have to bow to him myself.


	6. Chapter 5- Alexander the Great (Loren)

**Chapter 5**

 **Alexander** **The** **Great**

I'd first met Talonlord Sesus Calil fifteen years ago. At the time, he'd been working with the Immaculate Order to put down a dangerous Murqai rebellion in the far south. Mnemon Rai had offered his assistance to Calil, expecting that an Anathema worthy of slaying might make an appearance. No demons showed themselves, but the fighting was hard, and the weather was miserable. I loved the army as much as I loved anything in the world, but that campaign left me doubting my own ability to endure. Fortunately, after tracking down most of the Murqai cult's leaders and capturing their stronghold, we began marching back towards civilization.

Scouting the road north from Chiarascuro, Talonlord Calil discovered a filthy little boy hiding in a ditch. He was suspicious, but he couldn't find it in his heart to kill an innocent whose only fault was being born into a tribe of heretics. Because I'd learned to speak some Murqai myself, the boy was "my problem", at least until we reached the city. He ate like a starving animal, and slept in the smallest, most uncomfortable spaces. If anyone spoke to him, he scurried behind me. Since no one could pronounce the boy's proper name, Calil began calling him "Cockroach".

When we tried to pawn him off on an orphanage, Roach startled everyone. In very good High Realm, he begged Mnemon Rai to let _me_ keep him. I spent several hours explaining that I hadn't promised the boy anything. Calil grinned the entire time.

"This is why you never feed strays," he informed me... and the matter was settled. Roach was officially "adopted" by the Winds, and I became his teacher.

My remaining soldiers were as anxious as I was about my meeting with Sesus Calil. Too many rumors had spread around Mnemon Rai's camp, making Calil sound like much more of a villain than he was. Roach adamantly refused to let me go on alone. The young Dragonblood whose daiklave I'd stolen volunteered to stay behind with our wounded. He was barely eighteen and had only joined the Winds a few weeks ago, but I promoted him immediately, giving him a pin from my own uniform. If I didn't return, Old Thunderstormer would surely recognize the boy's potential.

We'd taken only a few horses when we left Mnemon Rai, and during the attack, the fae had killed most of them. Since I'd given my own mount to our messenger, Roach and I had to continue on foot. The two of us ran almost until dawn. A faint purplish light had appeared on the horizon.

I began to feel stronger. I'd always been at my best early in the morning, but there was more to it than that. The light of the rising sun quickened the Essence in me, making it even more impossible to ignore.

Roach was covered in bruises and his right arm was torn up from fae claws. I was completely unscathed myself, although I'd taken a good blow from a fae warhammer and the back of my armor was shattered. Nervous as I was, I knew that the sword I carried would not last. It was the stoutest blade I could find, made for an Icewalker warrior of the far north. Most men would have trouble wielding it, but when I didn't pay attention, my left hand often dropped from the hilt. It felt like a toy in my grasp, light as a feather. I was very afraid of breaking it.

"Wait up, Boss!" Roach shouted. I stopped so that he could catch his breath. "Damn, how do you still run like that when you're twenty years older than me?" He demanded.

"I drink less than you do!" I teased.

Roach laughed. "So, if I was to become a monk like you, I'd be immortal and immune to everything? For that I may just repent my sins!"

"I'm not immune to everything!" I protested, forcing myself to smile. The fact that he'd called me "immortal" sent a chill racing down my spine. I was well aware of the suspicious glances that were cast in my direction. My well-known "monkish" lifestyle had bought me another decade of youth, but it had been a long time since Jaret's death. Everyone I'd enlisted with was beginning to look old.

Though my memories were still fuzzy when it came to such things, I'd heard plenty of stories about Anathema who'd lived for thousands of years, far longer than even the best-bred Dynasts of the Realm. Soon, I would have to stop being Cathak Loren and become someone else.

" _More lies_ ," I muttered under my breath. The thought made me bitter.

"Heh. Right. I'll believe that when I witness something you're not immune to," Roach rolled his eyes. "How's your back?" He asked. Clearly, he had not heard my mumbling.

"Fine," I replied. "It was just a glancing blow."

"How'd a glancing blow shattered your lamellar?" He demanded.

"Fae sorcery," I replied, as if that explained everything. In truth, my armor was almost as useless as my sword. It was good lamellar, but it had never fit perfectly. I'd been meaning to re-lace it, but hadn't found the time. It almost seemed silly, wearing armor at all. With a moment's concentration, I could shield myself with Essence, making my skin as strong as bronze. Unfortunately, if I invoked that power, there would be no mistaking what I was.

Roach sighed heavily.

I surveyed the road ahead of us. "We must be very nearly there," I decided.

"Um… Boss?" Roach grimaced and pointed.

That was when we saw Talonlord Calil. Or rather, what was left of him. His head was lying in the middle of the road, a few feet away from his legs. Only one of his arms was still attached to his torso and his eyes had been gouged out of his skull. Though Calil had never been one of my favorite commanders, the end that he had met caused me to grit my teeth and tighten my grasp on the hilt of my sword. No man deserved to die like that.

Still, I composed myself. We were not alone.

"Come out!" I ordered the fae. "I know you're watching us! Come out, you cowards!"

At first there was no response, and then out of the trees on the sides of the road a huge goblin emerged. The monster was over twelve feet tall and gray-skinned with enormous tusks jutting out from its lower jaw. I stared up at it and instinctively slipped into a fighting stance.

I heard a muffled shout from behind me, and I drew my blade clear of its sheath. While I'd been distracted by the goblin, another fae had emerged from the forest, a familiar white spider woman. She held Roach with a thick rope of silk wrapped around his neck, and was drawing him towards her as if he were a fly she intended to eat. Though the fae change their shapes arbitrarily, I felt certain that she was the same faerie queen I'd faced ten years ago. Hordes of piglike goblins suddenly began appearing in the trees all around us. From the looks of things, we'd walked right into their nest.

"Let him go!" I ordered, my hand on the hilt of my sword. The spider woman laughed. It was a very unsettling sound.

The enormous goblin grabbed my shoulder. "No," it said, in a voice that sounded like cart wheels rolling over gravel.

"That is an _order_!" I gritted my teeth, brushing the goblin's claws off of me and focusing on the faerie queen.

"You have no business giving us orders, _mortal_!" The goblin replied arrogantly.

"And you have no business being in Creation, _monster_!" I snapped.

The spider woman paused, rolling a strand of silk between her long fingers. "Have our paths crossed before?" She asked me in a soft voice, sounding like a highly-trained courtesan.

"How should I know?" I replied curtly. "You fae changed your faces so often it's impossible to tell."

"Ah, but these eyes of mine have _seen_ you!" She hissed, fixing two of her eyes on me. They were a familiar golden-brown color and seemed to have been recently stitched into place. The connection I drew at that moment made me feel even sicker. "What is your name, little soldier?"

"You never asked for it when we met," I replied. "But I believe you called me… _Tiger_."

The sobriquet "Bronze Tiger" was used to describe the Dawn Caste in ancient times. Knowing that, and speaking those words, I felt a strange thrill course through me. In ten years, I'd never once said the word "Solar". It felt too much like admitting that I wasn't a man at all, but _something else._

The spider woman jumped as if she'd been struck by lightning and wrapped four of her eight limbs around her goblin, abandoning Roach. Roach struggled in his silken bonds, looking up at me fearfully, as if he hoped that I would somehow save us both.

The goblin grunted and attempted to brush the spider off of him, watching me with a toothy grin. "Mortal, I will grind your bones!" He sneered.

"No, Tusk, no!" The spider woman ordered. "This one is more than a match for you!" She leaned in to whisper something in his pointed ear. I knew what it was at once, and felt all the strength drain out of me.

"Hohohoho!" The goblin laughed. "The Faeslayer? Surely you are mistaken, Duchess! This is no Sword of Heaven! A _paper tiger_ at best, not one forged of bronze! The Children of the Dawn are _big_ like Yurgen the Bull, or that Demetheus fellow! I could crush both of these men with one fist."

Roach stared, still gagged with spider woman's silk. He knew what those words meant. How could he not? I made no attempt to deny what the fae had said.

 _Child of the Dawn. Sword of Heaven._

I loved those elegant, antiquated words as much as I feared them. If Roach hadn't been gagged, I knew what he would say in response.

 _Demon. Anathema._

Doubt churned within me, and for a moment I was a coward again. Seeing Roach on his knees, I reminded myself that I had always strived to protect those who could not protect themselves. How could I be damned for that?

It did not matter. Regardless of how the world saw me, I was not a mad animal. When I made a choice, I would suffer the consequences of my actions, or of my failure to act. The fae obviously intended to kill us both, and if I hesitated, they'd start with Roach. I could feel how near I was to my limit, and I was well-aware that anything I did would be obvious and unmistakable. When the mark on my brow started to flicker, Roach would not be able to miss it. And yet, how could I choose my own safety over the life of my dearest friend?

I took a deep breath. My left hand slipped from the hilt of my blade. I did not pretend that I needed it to manage the weight. I extended my arm and pointed my sword at the spider woman, shifting into a more aggressive stance. I took a deep breath, drawing on my Essence instead of bottling it up.

"Ahahaha! Yes, yes!" The spider woman... the _Duchess_ exclaimed, a tremble in her voice. She had little interest in me until I began to act like a foe to be reckoned with, and then her desire was insatiable. It was an old, old hate that drove us. "There you are! I see you now!"

"This is your last chance to walk away," I said.

"Walk away?" The Duchess laughed. "Why would I do that, when such a rare morsel stands before me? I have grown tired of petty Dragonbloods… the way they breed, there are ever more of them to kill! But eyes such as yours, and a soul so fine and rare?" The spider woman inhaled deeply, as if savoring the bouquet of a fine wine. "It has been _so long_ since I've eaten the heart of a _Solar!_ "

 _Solar._

The Duchess spoke that word as a Dragonblood might say " _Anathema"_ , with loathing and reverence, as if she could think of no greater enemy to face. And if something so indisputably foul hated me so much... I discovered that I could believe in my own righteousness.

The sun was rising. It hadn't cleared the horizon yet, but its nearness made me feel warm and wonderfully strong. I smiled slightly. "You _will_ release my friend. And you will go back to the Wyld where you belong!" I paused. "Or I swear I will cleave off every one of your arms and take your goblin's head for a trophy!"

"What makes you think you can kill me?" The goblin sneered.

"Test me. If you dare," I replied. A lifetime ago, I'd fought Primordials, the formless, world-shattering monsters that gave birth to the oldest of the fae. By comparison, killing a goblin was somewhat akin to swatting a fly.

Snorting like a boar, the goblin charged. I braced myself. Though the fae must have expected to plow right over me, I effortlessly swept underneath him and ran my blade through his gut. It immediately snapped in half, but I still clenched the hilt. Using his momentum to my advantage, I heaved the goblin up over my head and hurled him twenty feet. My cold iron sword would have been enough to wound the beast, but laced with Essence as white-hot as the heart of the sun, it did far worse. His body exploded into flames like a torch dipped in pitch.

The Duchess gasped and leapt into the trees. As brave-sounding as she had been only moments before, I was surprised to see her flee so quickly. Still, I didn't pursue her. I wouldn't leave Roach helpless and tied up in spider silk, and I wasn't certain that the goblin was actually dead. I kicked the beast onto its back. The corpse coughed up black smoke and little sparks, like a hot coal rolled out of a fire. I wiped what was left of my weapon clean on my cloak and sheathed the broken blade.

"Are you with me, Roach?" I asked, my back to him. I didn't want to see his face, and I didn't want him to see mine.

"Roach?" I repeated. When he still didn't respond, I sighed and turned around.

Roach stared up at me. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. After a long moment of silence, he uttered something incoherent that sounded like a Murqai curse.

"Get out of here! Go!" I snapped.

Roach hesitated. He obviously wanted to say something, but I didn't wait for him to find the words. "I mean it! Go!" I ordered him again. I laced the word with Essence so that he couldn't protest. His reaction was startling. For a moment, I wasn't entirely sure if he thought I'd slapped him or blessed him. Maybe it was both?

Roach bolted, and as soon as I was sure he was gone, I started running in the opposite direction. I never saw any more of Sesus Calil's soldiers or any place that might have been the site of a battle. Quite possibly, the fae had laid an ambush and drug everyone they killed off into the trees to be eaten. Even still, Calil should have had at least four hundred men! The fae that had decimated my couldn't possibly have taken out such a force! Unless...

Were there _more_ of them nearby? A large fae army hadn't destroyed a city in centuries, but they'd decimated entire kingdoms in the past. In fact, it seemed like such an attack was probably overdue.

I finally made it to the edge of the forest, and stopped to rest for a moment at the foot of an old willow tree. The view from where I stood was awe-inspiring. From the top of the ridge where I stood I could see the river snaking through the valley below. A hawk danced on the wind and the air was thick with the scent of pines and melting snow. And then the sun began to clear the distant hills, painting everything in gold.

I was no longer burning brightly. The bonfire surrounding me had dwindled down to little more than a flicker, a faint haze of light that blended into the rays of the dawning sun perfectly. For a moment I felt as if I were standing on the top of the world.

 _When_ _I_ _was_ _seven_ _years_ _old,_ _my_ _father_ _had_ _taken_ _me_ _to_ _meet_ _his_ _friend_ _Tepet_ _Manu at the Abbey of Mela._ _I'd_ _been_ _full_ _of_ _questions_ _at_ _that_ _age,_ _and_ _after_ _listening_ _attentively_ _to_ _the_ _old_ _monk,_ _I'd_ _asked_ _him something very daring._

 _"How do you know the Dragons are watching you, Abbot?"_

 _Abbot_ _Manu_ _laughed._ _"How_ _do_ _you_ _know_ _your_ _father_ _is_ _watching_ _you,_ _Loren?"_ _He_ _asked._

 _"I_ _see_ _him,"_ _I_ _replied,_ _for_ _I_ _knew_ _that_ _he_ _was_ _standing_ _right_ _over_ _my_ _shoulder._

 _Abbot Manu nodded slightly. "And_ _I_ _see_ _the_ _Dragons."_

 _"Where?"_ _I_ _demanded._ _I_ _saw_ _nothing,_ _of_ _course._

 _"In_ _everything,"_ _Abbot_ _Manu_ _smiled._

I collapsed to my knees. It was all I could do. I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to _believe_.

Suddenly, I heard a creaking sound behind me and turned to see what it was. It was a wizened little old man with skin like willow bark, obviously one of the local gods. "You look most distressed, noble Sword of Heaven. Is there trouble afoot?" The little god whispered. He seemed very concerned.

"I'm afraid so," I admitted truthfully. "May I rest here for a little while? I'll make sure no one bothers your tree."

"A very gracious offer! Who would have thought that one such as yourself would deign to protect my humble abode! No, no, milord – it is I who should be offering you service," the little god smiled. "Would you like some tea? Yes? Well now, come inside!"

I had to crawl on my hands and knees to get into the little God's home. The ceiling was only a few inches above my head and the porcelain cup he gave me was so small I held it between two fingers. The little God rambled on at some length about the recent depredations of the fae and the tribe of Wyld barbarians who were stealing winter supplies from his villagers. He spoke of two very old Anathema who'd begun assembling an army in the area. I remembered listening in on a briefing about the movements of their forces before I'd left Mnemon Rai's command tent. Still, hearing the little God speak of the barbaric Frenzied Silvermane and the terrible Trickster Heartsblood as if they were great heroes left me feeling even more uneasy. I sat in silence, nodding every so often. My thoughts were elsewhere. Was it truly a moment of clarity that I'd experienced earlier?

I drank a dozen cups of tea, thanked the little God and then excused myself as I noticed that the sun was high in the sky. I walked all day, and for a few hours after the sun went down until I couldn't tolerate the chafing of my shattered armor any longer.

I stopped in a little grove of trees, undressed myself, and examined the damaged lamellar plates. It was a small wonder that Roach had been suspicious… the fae warhammer I'd been struck with should have broken every bone in my body. It would have, if I'd been mortal. But I didn't have the luxury of pretending that was true anymore. With my sword broken, my armor irreparable, and the one person I trusted in the world miles away… I was as lost as I had ever been in my life. I sighed heavily and buried my head in my hands.

"Oh, what a sigh!" A familiar voice snickered. "You haven't changed at all! Still blaming yourself for not being able to save all of Creation, eh?"

I was not entirely surprised to see Amira standing over me. She was dressed exactly as she had been on our first meeting, and she leaned on something as tall as she was. It was wrapped in a thick layer of coarse linen cloth.

"Heh. So the Wyld Hunt hasn't gotten you yet?" I was feeling more than a little cynical and could think of nothing else to say.

"They never will. You can't _hunt_ a hunter of my caliber," she smirked. "So, did you miss me?"

"For the thousandth time, I don't know you!" I protested, though I was secretly glad to see her.

"Loren, do not make me get my stick!" She warned.

"You called me Loren?" I observed, surprised by her sudden change of tone.

"That's your name, isn't it?" She demanded. "Would you prefer "Little Monk"? She teased. The surprise I felt must have registered on my face. "Or… what does that Roach of yours call you? _Boss_?"

"You've been stalking me?"

"Guilty as charged!" Amira replied, completely unapologetic. "Luna's blood, you look like hell! I see you broke another sword." She rolled her eyes. "I saw that one coming."

"They don't make these things like they used to," I shrugged, examining the broken blade.

"They don't make _anything_ like they used to!" Amira sighed heavily. "And oh boy, is that _ever_ an understatement!" She paused for a moment and then gestured to the thing that she carried. "I brought a present for you. Just in time too. I'm sorry it took me so long to find it, but you know I've always been a terrible packrat." She pulled the linen cloth away from the object.

"Ta-da!" Amira bowed dramatically.

I stared at the lustrous orichalcum blade. My eyes drifted slowly to the blood-red hearthstone fixed in the hilt. It was my daiklave. The part of me that was Alexander had wielded that weapon in more battles than I could count. And when I had trained alone at my father's lakeside retreat, perfecting my skills… there were times when I could have sworn that I felt it in my hands.

I knew that the spectacular sword had been a gift to me from a very dear friend, and seeing it so close reminded me of him. Without thinking, I found myself reaching for it. I almost touched its hilt, but then I recoiled as if I'd been struck by a snake.

"What's the matter with you?" Amira demanded. "Go on, take it! That daiklave of yours is damned heavy, and I'm not carrying it anymore."

I couldn't find words to speak.

"Listen to me!" Amira sighed. "I'm only going to say this once more, and then I'm going to start beating you senseless with my stick! I know you like to follow rules, but the rules of this world must be broken, Loren! Things are _not_ meant to be the way they are! You're _not_ a demon! You're Chosen… Exalted by the Unconquered Sun himself! You are _destined_ to be greater than you can imagine, bloody goddamned _glorious_! And you'd better get used to the idea of taking charge, because if you spend the next thousand years like you've spent the last ten, I swear I will kill you myself!"

I stared at her. Words wouldn't come to me. "Look, if people see that sword, they'll..." I paused. "Mnemon Rai will..." I sighed in defeat. There was no point in arguing that my commander would kill me. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn't believe he _could_. The truth was, I didn't want to hurt him.

"Old Thunderstormer may be a wily one, but he's a Dragonblood. We _bred_ _them_ to take orders!" Amira argued. "If you don't want to cut him down, _command_ him to get out of your way!"

"I can't," I protested.

"You can," she corrected. "And if it weren't for all of the lies of the Immaculates, Mnemon Rai _would_ serve you. He wants to, _desperately_ , and he doesn't even understand _why_!" Amira sighed heavily. "It's been a hundred generations, but some of our dogs still have a little loyalty in them. Pity the rest have gone feral."

I didn't like what Amira was implying at all. Still, it occurred to me that Mnemon Rai hadn't done much talking in the past few weeks. "You're asking the impossible," I informed her.

"That's why I'm asking _you_. Luna-as-my-witness, _you_ _are_ _done_ _hiding!_ " Amira paused. "Silvermane and I are moving against the fae tomorrow."

"Silvermane? Then you're…"

"Heartsblood. Yes. I thought you knew."

"Are you really a thousand years old?" I asked. It seemed like an idiotic question to pose to one of the most infamous Anathema in the Scavenger Lands, but it was all I could think of.

"Oh, I'm older than that!" She laughed.

"You don't look it," I observed.

"You didn't either, when I came back after the War!" She laughed slightly. "I was little more than a child then, and you were positively terrifying! The great Sword of the Deliberative! Everyone was certain you'd manipulate me if you bothered to notice me at all! They all thought it would be centuries before we could speak to one another, let alone see eye to eye!" Amira sighed heavily. "But two weeks after we met in Meru, you kissed me when you thought I was sleeping. And I knew I'd never want to be with anyone else."

I stared at my daiklave, slowly absorbing everything that Amira had said.

"What is this, some kind of knightly vigil?" She demanded, her hands on her hips. "Are you coming?"

"I _can't,_ " I protested.

"Oooh, I hate it when you say that! Fine! You're on your own then!" She snorted, turning to walk away, leaving my sword lying in front of me where I could not ignore it.

"You forgot something!" I shouted after her.

"I'm done dragging around _your_ _responsibility_!" Amira snapped. "Besides, these woods are swarming with fae, and all of them are jabbering about you! You _will_ need a weapon." She paused. "You want it. You know you do."

I grimaced. She was right. The longer I stared at that daiklave, the more I desired it. And yet I knew that if I found the courage to pick it up, I'd never put it down again. "It was a gift. An important gift," I paused. "Who gave me that sword?"

"Who do you _think_?" Amira smirked. "You took this blade and drew a line across the edge of Creation. You said to the Wyld, "This is the line you shall not cross!" And when those bastards ignored your warning, you sent them crawling back into the formless void that spawned them. Can't you think of _anyone_ who would appreciate that?" She paused for a moment and then grinned wickedly. "Aw, c'mon… it misses you!" She nudged me with her elbow.

I still said nothing. I had the sneaking suspicion that if I refused to take my daiklave again, Amira would hit me with her stupid stick.

"Fine, I'll give you a choice!" Either take your daiklave like a man, or…" She leaned in close to me and whispered something in my ear that no gentleman would dare repeat. I was certain that my face had turned the same color as the hearthstone I was staring at.

"That's... not very ladylike," It was a stupid response, but I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Who says I'm a lady?" Amira retorted in a very deep, masculine voice.

I blinked in shock and Amira collapsed against my shoulder in a fit of uncontrollable giggling. "Hah, you should see yourself! You jumped right out of your skin!"

"Why do you _insist_ on tormenting me?" I demanded, utterly humiliated.

"Complain, complain! You should be grateful! I'm a very busy woman, and there are lots of people who'd _love_ to have as much of my time as you've been getting!" Amira pushed me.

Without thinking, I caught her hand. I hesitated for a moment.

"If you really want me to leave, let me go," she said. She'd been laughing a moment ago, but she suddenly sounded fragile.

I didn't want her to leave. I pulled her closer. Amira's nose brushed my neck. She turned her head slightly, and our eyes met. I wanted to kiss her, but I took a deep breath and bit down on my lip instead.

"Why _me_? Why don't you find yourself another…" The word I'd been about to speak stuck suddenly in my throat. Of course, I'd _thought_ it many times, but to actually say it? From the grin on Amira's face, it was obvious that she knew why I was stammering.

"Find myself another _what_?" She taunted.

I sighed heavily. "Some other…" I began, but I couldn't finish what I had started to say, not with Amira grinning at me. "If I say it, will you stop tormenting me?" I asked.

"Oh, I'll do _anything_ you want!" Amira vowed in a tone that sent my mind reeling. "But start at the beginning! I want to hear the whole thing! I'm _so_ excited! This is a _big_ step for you!"

It was useless to argue with her.

"Why don't you find yourself another _Solar_?" I mumbled, burying my head in my hands.

Amira gasped theatrically. She grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me until I was forced to look up at her. "Oh, Loren! Speak to me, you great useless git! Are you implying that _you_ are a _Solar_? A Bronze Tiger, Sword of Heaven, _Lawgiver_? Chosen of the Unconquered Sun and Lord of all Creation?"

The sobriquet "Lawgiver" stuck in my head. It was one I had not heard in a very long time. In a world nearly consumed by chaos, I could think of nothing more necessary. I remembered what Amira had said about drawing a line across the edge of Creation and _forbidding_ the fae to cross it. The thought of such a mad feat sent a chill racing down my spine.

It could be done again. I could do it.

" _Yes,_ " I nodded, swallowing the lump that rose in my throat. It was a tremendous thing to acknowledge, even if I didn't dare speak louder than a whisper. Amira was hardly satisfied.

"I didn't hear that!" She cupped a hand to her ear. Her wolfish traits were more than just superficial, and I knew that Amira could locate a single cricket in a field just by listening to the sound of its chirping. The fact that she was pretending to be deaf was ridiculous.

"I said _yes,_ you lunatic! I am a Solar!" I shouted so loud that most of the forest must have heard me. And then I started to cry, which was something I had not done in years. My whole body shook uncontrollably. Speaking those words, I sensed how _true_ they were. How had I denied it for so long? Although it was night, I found myself staring skyward. I could feel the pull of Heaven, and for a moment it seemed that if I stood and jumped, I would leave the whole world behind. I blinked in surprise as I realized that the mark on my brow flickering.

I hadn't called for it, but I didn't try to suppress it either.

I was _supposed_ to see it.

All of Creation was supposed to see it.

That was when Amira kissed me. It was much too short, but indescribably sweet. I'd been kissed before, of course, but never by anyone I loved so desperately. I stared at her like a fool. "I'm sorry," Amira slowly pulled away. "I thought that maybe if I kissed you, you would remember."

Words wouldn't come to me. I _did_ remember our life together. Even when I'd tried to banish her from my thoughts, Amira was always in my dreams. I'd told myself that she was a monster because the truth was so terrifying. Solars and Lunars had been created in pairs. We were literally soulmates, bound together since the beginning of time.

"Goodnight, Loren," Amira whispered. She blew me another kiss.

Before I could protest, she was gone. I flopped on my back and stared up at my daiklave, which was sticking point-first into the ground. I felt unforgivably stupid. Even as bone-tired as I was, it took me a long time to fall asleep.

When I awoke, my daiklave was gone. For a moment, I suspected that I'd only dreamt of Amira again… but then I saw that my shattered lamellar and my broken sword had been repaired with unparalleled skill. The missing pieces were well matched to the rest, but they were not steel. As far as I could tell, they'd been crafted from an elegant, silvery substance that felt like Amira's Essence. There was also a strength in the armor that hadn't been there before, something familiar that I guessed was a celestial blessing. I put my armor back on and I was about to start heading west when I heard the sound of horses approaching.

"Cathak?" It was Mnemon Rai's voice that I heard, and I knew it was useless to hide from him. "Old Thunderstormer" was a very strong Air-Aspect, and could track a man for miles merely by listening for the sound of his breath disturbing the natural currents of the air. Riding behind him were several of his officers and Roach.

"Winglord," I saluted instinctively and then clenched my fists, vowing that I would not draw my blade. I already carried the weight of my brother's death on my shoulders. I was not about to fight the honorable commander I'd served under for so many years.

"Where have you been?" Mnemon demanded.

I blinked in surprise. He didn't know?

"Your Roach told me he last saw you chasing off a pack of fae. Damn fool thing to do on your own. I should reprimand you for being reckless," Mnemon Rai informed me, though his tone said that he wouldn't. "But right now I'm rather glad you're alive."

I stared in disbelief at Roach. He'd _lied_ for me? Why?

"Someone get this man a horse!" Mnemon Rai ordered.

Back at camp, our scouts reported that they had found the fae. There were thousands of them gathering, enough to take out a whole legion... and they were moving slowly in the direction of Nexus, the only city in Creation that did not have its own standing army. Old Thunderstormer confessed that he could not remember a time when the fae had been so bold.

Roach and I rode along the crest of a small hill, taking a good long look at our enemy. So far, there was no sign of their leaders, but I had a sneaking suspicion that my old enemy "The Duchess" would soon make an appearance. Our soldiers were already in the field below us, prepared but vastly outnumbered. My brand-new Talon was already forty men short, and Mnemon Rai was missing nearly the same number. Out of Sesus Calil's soldiers, more than half were still unaccounted for, although some had escaped the massacre that had cost their commander his life.

We only had four implosion bows still functioning, and no other artillery. Worse still, all of our wounded were camped less than a mile away. There was no way we could retreat without abandoning them. I ordered every would-be monk and petty thamaturge I could find to start giving out blessings.

The fae only waited. So far, here was no sign of their leaders, which I suspected accounted for their unwillingness to move.

"That's _a_ _lot_ of fae!" Roach whistled. "I don't suppose you could chase off a few hundred of em', eh Boss?" He gave me a conspiratorial wink.

"I've been meaning to ask you, Roach. Why didn't you…" For the life of me, I couldn't form the question that I wanted to ask.

"Why didn't I turn you in?" He laughed slightly. "Look, I know you really believe that Perfected Hierarchy garbage, but don't you remember where you found me?"

I nodded, still uncomfortable with the memory. I'd never liked hunting down peasants, regardless of whether they were refusing to pay taxes, worshipping demons, or harboring fugitives _._

"My mother wasn't a whore, Loren. She was a _priestess_ ," Roach paused. "Not Illuminated, but... a believer. And maybe I've been with the Winds sixteen years, but you know I'm stubborn. No one ever beat _all_ the heresy out of me!"

I considered what he had said and slowly began to understand. There were heretics throughout the Realm, but the tribe that Roach had been born into, the Murqai, were zealous and very often violent. They claimed that their god was greater than all of the dragons combined, wise, compassionate, and absolutely invincible in battle.

The name that they gave him was _Shamas_ _Majeed_.

 _The_ _Unconquered_ _Sun._

"Roach, it's _not_ what you think!" I argued. Though I was glad that Roach was still my friend, I didn't want him believing that I was a god.

"No, it is _exactly_ what I think!" Roach replied. He poked me between the eyes with his thumb. Of course, my mark wasn't burning, but I always knew where it was.

" _Never_ do that again!" I scolded him, slapping his hand. "And be _quiet_!" I hissed. "Someone will hear you!"

"So? Everyone's already suspicious! You turned a lot of heads back in the Imperial City when you were just kicking Kes Lidaal's ass at Gateway and wiping the floor with those boys at Paisap's Stair! But out here, in the field…" He whistled. "You have to quit the army."

"I _can't_!" I protested.

"Damnit, Boss!" Roach rolled his eyes. "Aren't you supposed to be saving the world?"

I buried my head in my hands. Of course, my reaction told Roach what he already knew. As usual, he was right. The two of us stared out over the hordes of fae.

"You know, Old Thunderstormer's been praying to the Dragons since you went missing," Roach continued. "And I do hope they're watching over us right now." He elbowed me with a mischievous wink. "But personally, I feel better _knowing_ that we've got a _Sword of Heaven_ on our side!"

That sobriquet was difficult to ignore. Of course, what Roach did next was worse. " _Shamas Majeed_ _nasr al din!"_ He punched the air with his fist, giving a very authentic, unbelievably shrill Murqai war cry. Some of our men heard him and immediately came running to see what the commotion was.

I was absolutely mortified. "Roach! What has gotten into you? In one breath you're praising the Dragons and in the next you're spouting all kinds of heresy! We've been _hunting_ Anathema for years! Which side are you on?"

"The same side we're all on," Roach replied smugly. "The side of Creation."

"The side of Creation?" I echoed. I'd never thought of it that way before.

Roach gave me another critical look. "Did you just call me a heretic? I'll own that, but you're not a believer? How are _you_ not a believer?"

"Just _stop_! You're going to cause a panic!" I scolded him. It would have taken far too long to explain that I knew almost nothing about the God of the Sun, apart from the fact that he'd made me what I was. When I'd tried to speak to him in the past, the words had never sounded right.

"Trouble, Talonlord?" The first soldier to reach us asked.

"Not yet," I replied.

"Uhoh," Roach squinted at the horizon line. "Looks like you spoke too soon, Boss."

My gaze drifted in the direction that he was pointing, and Roach produced his spyglass.

"We've got company," he observed.

Another army had come within sight, about a thousand strong. Marching near the front were several Lunars, at least four that I could identify. Two seemed to be the leaders. The first was a huge lion covered in scars, and the second was an equally large and intimidating wolf. I knew that the wolf was Amira. Her "stupid stick" had extended to the length of a pike and had a piece of white cloth attached to it.

"What is it now?" Mnemon Rai demanded. "Yarati tells me we're being attacked by Murqai."

"Roach is the fool pretending to be Murqai, and I've already reprimanded him. But you should probably look at this," I passed him Roach's spyglass. He scanned the horizon very quickly and then caught what I was pointing at.

"Anathema?" Mnemon Rai cursed. "Dragons, this day can't get any worse!"

"That's a white flag, sir," I pointed to Amira. "They don't want to fight us."

 _"_ Cathak, are you actually suggesting we _negotiate_ with demons?" Mnemon Rai scoffed. "I'd rather cut a deal with the fae!"

"Should we signal the fae then, sir? See if they respond?" My response was a little colder than it should have been, and Old Thunderstormer seemed surprised to hear me mocking him. I couldn't help myself. I didn't want _anything_ to do with the fae… and while my feelings on other "Anathema" were still somewhat mixed, I knew that Amira would never harm me or anyone I cared about.

"With all due respect, Winglord, he does have a point," Roach interrupted. "The demons want to talk. Maybe we ought to hear them out."

Mnemon Rai considered. He obviously didn't like the situation, but he counted the numbers of fae and his expression began to change.

"Very well," Mnemon Rai sighed in defeat. "Cathak, you're with me."

In a surprisingly short time, a meeting was arranged. Mnemon Rai and I rode down into the eastern portion of the valley, as far as possible from the fae. Amira and her companion came to meet us. The Lunars towered over our horses. It took every ounce of willpower I possessed for me not to stare at Amira as she resumed her human form. She looked exactly as she had more than a thousand years ago, wearing a circlet set with moonstones and a suit of exceptionally fine silver armor… or at least I suspected it was some kind of armor, even though it didn't cover enough of her body to be considered such. With her tattoos glowing and the crescent moon on her brow flickering, she was both beautiful and terrifying.

"Well now. You Anathema are certainly bold, expecting mercy from the Ravenous Winds." Mnemon Rai paused.

"Your name and reputation is known to us, Dragonblood," Amira smiled slightly. It was not a nice smile. "I am Amira Heartsblood, and this is Kahn Silvermane. We represent the Sun-King Seneschals."

"Hm. I've heard of you as well, Heartsblood… not much good, I'm afraid. I must confess that have my doubts as to your sincerity of purpose. Now why did you signal?" Mnemon Rai demanded.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, it is said," Silvermane replied. As I expected, his voice was very deep, and he spoke with an accent that made me suspect he was more comfortable conversing in Old Realm. "We know that you intend to fight the fae. Furthermore, our spies tell us that you cannot retreat without leaving behind your wounded. We will stand with you in exchange for one of your men."

"You want me," I interrupted. I began to suspect that I'd walked right into a very elaborate trap.

Amira and Silvermane both nodded gravely.

"What?" Mnemon Rai stared at me in disbelief. "Why?"

"We are at war," Silvermane replied. "And this man is the greatest warrior in Creation."

Mnemon Rai stared at Silvermane, an incredulous expression on his face. The old Lunar did not blink. Apparently, he believed _exactly_ what he'd said.

"Well, he's good, I won't deny that!" Mnemon Rai sighed. "But you monsters probably intend to eat him!" He sneered. "And I for one would rather fight and die with honor than sacrifice one of my men to a pack of demons!"

"We are _not_ demons!" Amira snarled. "We are the rightful Stewards of this world, and those fae are a threat to _everything_ we sworn to defend! Now will you help us kill them, or should we wait until your soldiers are dead before we finish them off?"

I could tell that Mnemon Rai was hesitating.

"Sir?" I whispered. "If all they want is me, you shouldn't refuse."

"Very well, demons. You have a deal," Mnemon Rai replied. "But mark my words… if I discover you've murdered the best first officer I've ever had, I _will_ hunt you down!"

Hesitantly, the Winglord reached out for Silvermane's enormous paw. They shook, and then Mnemon Rai turned to Amira, who only bowed slightly in his direction. It was clearly meant to be patronizing. She didn't take her eyes off of him as she should have if she intended to be polite. Then again, with what I remembered of the First Age, I wasn't entirely surprised to discover that the two Lunars did not think any Dragonblood could be worthy of their respect.

I still believed there were honorable Dragonbloods myself. Neither my father nor Mnemon Rai had been alive in the last days of the First Age, and if they had been, I believed that they would not have acted as others had.

Silvermane approached me. He cupped both of his paws around my hand. It was clear from the way that he stood that he would have preferred to be on one knee. "It is an honor," he said.

"Morning, lover," Amira winked. I tried not to react badly, and glanced over my shoulder to see if the Winglord was watching me. He seemed preoccupied with his horse. The animal clearly didn't like being so close to Silvermane and was pulling very hard on its bit. I sighed in relief. Amira was doing her damnedest to break me, and I was not going to give her the satisfaction.

"Amira, how did you..." I began. What I meant to ask was how she had repaired my sword and my armor, but I didn't get the chance.

"What's the matter? Afraid you were dreaming?" Amira teased, putting one finger to my lips.

"No, it's... never mind," I sighed. It was _very_ difficult to resist kissing her, but I knew I was being watched. She snorted, seeming annoyed and disappointed as I pulled away.

"Cathak?" Mnemon Rai interrupted. "Are you ready?"

I immediately composed myself.

"Oh, and one more thing, "Thunderstormer"!" Silvermane warned. "My warriors will aid you, but they will not _obey_ you, Dragonblood! So leave your notions of 'superiority' up there on your little hill!"

Mnemon Rai twitched slightly and seemed ready to defend himself, probably by calling Silvermane a demon or something equally offensive. Before I considered what I was doing, I positioned myself between the two of them.

"No! Don't respond to that!" I ordered Mnemon Rai. "And you, _do_ _not_ goad him!" I snapped at Silvermane. The Lunar looked startled. He bowed his head, and whispered an apology in Old Realm.

Mnemon Rai eyed me suspiciously, and I bit my tongue. For a moment, it looked like our agreement might unravel. Silvermane and Mnemon Rai glared at each other. Although the Winglord was a smart man, his pride would not allow him to bow his head before an Anathema... and there was no way a Lunar would follow the leader of the most notorious Wyld Hunt in the Scavenger lands.

Amira had played her cards well. She'd put me in a position I could not walk away from.

I took a deep breath. "Even together, we are still outnumbered. If we want to be rid of those fae, we can settle our differences after this battle is won."

"Wise words," Silvermane said.

Mnemon Rai took a deep breath. "You're right, Cathak. This isn't the time or the place for bickering. If we fail here, those fae will continue marching and many innocent people will die. We cannot allow that to happen."

Silvermane nodded in agreement.

"And while I don't trust you Anathema, and you don't trust me… we do seem to have one thing in common," Mnemon Rai continued, his eyes drifting towards me again. "Would you follow Loren?" He asked Silvermane.

"Yes," the old Lunar replied without hesitation.

"So would I," Mnemon Rai nodded. "Cathak… take good care of my Winds, will you? They're yours."

Silvermane and Amira both bowed dramatically, a clear gesture of concession. The Lunars' army began to cheer as if the battle were already won. Mnemon Rai gave the signal and a flag immediately went up on our side to show that we had an accord. I stared at the Winglord in disbelief and caught his blue cloak as he let it drop into my hands. At that moment, the sun broke the clouds.

"Well now, isn't that auspicious?" Mnemon Rai smiled slightly.

"Heaven is with us," Silvermane nodded.

Roach didn't say a word, but he nodded with conviction. As always, he had more faith in me than I had in myself. I considered the field.

"You seem calm, Cathak," Mnemon Rai observed. "You don't have a problem fighting alongside demons?"

"We're all on the side of Creation," I replied, appropriating Roach's line.

"Heh," Mnemon Rai observed. "You know, I remember the first time I saw you at Paisap's Stair. Seventeen years old, still sullen and sore about not being blessed by the Dragons... and yet there was _something_ about you. I think I knew then that you could lead a man off the edge of this earth. Your father is proud of you, Loren. More than you know. If we survive today, I'm supposed to give you this commission."

He produced a letter from inside his armor. I didn't have to open it to know what it was. The red seal of a rampant dragon was the device of House Cathak and my father's Scarlet Legion. "It's an officer's commission. And unprecedented, as you well know."

For a long moment, I stared at the letter. Mnemon Rai was offering me everything I had ever wanted, and yet I knew that I wouldn't be able to take it.

"Whatever may happen out there… it's been a privilege to serve you, sir," I said. I felt compelled to say some parting words, since I knew that very soon Mnemon Rai would no longer have to guess what sort of relationship I had with our allies. Maybe I'd cracked the old demon hunter's armor? I didn't expect that we would remain friends, but it seemed possible that I'd planted a seed of doubt somewhere in his heart… and that over time, perhaps he would begin to see Creation as Roach did, as a place not meant to be so harshly divided.

"So what is the plan?" Silvermane asked, coming to join us. He was obviously itching to fight.

"I've been in command for two minutes. What makes you think I have a plan?" I smiled slightly. I _did_ have a plan. It had occurred to me the moment I saw the Duchess on the field. One of my Aunt Garel's favorite proverbs concerned fear. She considered it to be the greatest weapon of all, because it was always _felt_ before it was _understood_. The moment of that visceral reaction was the perfect time to strike. Of course, the fae weren't afraid of much... but they _were_ afraid of _me_.

"Hah! Yes!" Amira exclaimed. Mnemon Rai gave her a suspicious look.

"It's good!" Amira informed him. "He _never_ smiles! If he smiles, it's because he's got something _spectacular_!"

"I find it odd that you know that, demon," Mnemon Rai turned to me. "So what is it?" He asked.

The strategy I proposed was simple and elegant. I positioned Amira and myself in the center and divided the rest of our forces in two parts. They would drive up the flanks as the fae would be compelled to direct the bulk of their strength against the portion of our defense which appeared strongest.

"Those trees are our line," I pointed. "And when the fae cross it, we break our center. We let them think they've won, and then we fold our flanks around them. Like a crab's claw. A pincher."

"But how can you be so certain they'll target you?" Mnemon Rai asked.

I pointed to a single white spider fae, inspecting a large number of goblin footsoldiers. "That one is called "the Duchess". I've killed a few of her fiends. Believe me, I'll have her undivided attention."

Of course, if I did what I intended to do, I would soon have _everyone's_ undivided attention... but I thought it best not to worry the Winglord. Both Silvermane and Amira laughed. Mnemon Rai eyed them suspiciously, and then he gave me an odd look. A messenger interrupted us before things got even more awkward. The fae were moving.

"All right. Are we ready?"

"We are indeed!" Silvermane proclaimed, and Mnemon Rai nodded. They departed. Amira slinked behind me, her nose only a few inches from my ear.

"Should we do it the way we used to?" She smirked.

I laughed, knowing precisely what she intended. I rode up to the front, ignoring the strange looks from the Winds and the smug expression on Amira's face. When I reached the center of the field, I cut a line with my sword through the sparse, dry grass.

"Cathak?" Mnemon Rai demanded. "What are you doing?"

I didn't respond.

"Line! Line! Line!" The Lunars and their allies chanted. The fae reacted spectacularly. The Duchess saw me, and held up one hand. The goblins behind her froze, and soon the whole field was motionless.

"Whatever it is, the fae sure don't like it," Roach remarked, watching the army on the horizon.

Mnemon Rai smiled. "Carry on, Cathak!"

I wasn't actually waiting for his permission, but I nodded in his direction anyway. I rode back a second time so that no one could mistake where my line had been drawn. I pointed to it with my blade. "If you cross my line," I shouted. "I will _cut you down_!"

The Lunars roared in approval. As my gaze drifted in Amira's direction, I realized that her white flag of truce was not actually white. Though it was extremely faded, it bore the unmistakable heraldry of the Deliberative, a radiant golden sun made from the symbols of the five Solar Castes. More gold and white banners emerged from the rabble, and the barbarian horde began to look like what it was, the remnants of a First Age army. The Lunars had been waiting over a thousand years for the opportunity to take back what was rightfully theirs. It wasn't a city, or land, or anything so petty. It was their pride, as Stewards of Creation.

Within the fae horde, an order was given. The goblins slowly inched forward.

"They never learn, do they?" Amira smirked.

I closed my eyes and focused. Charms came unbidden to my lips, words I had not spoken aloud in centuries. Power coursed through my veins. A burst of fire shot over our heads. The fae had come in range of Mnemon Rai's implosion bows. I felt the thundering charge rolling down the hillside in my bones. Amira shifted into the form of a wolf, as tall at the shoulder as my horse.

"Stay close to me. I'll protect you," Amira ordered.

"I don't need your protection!" I argued.

"Please. You're wearing _lamellar,_ and you're fighting with a _toothpick_!" She rolled her eyes.

"This is a good sword! It was expensive!" I protested, but she ignored me. It didn't matter. I knew exactly what she meant. As the effects of the Charms washed over me, I recalled a shirt of orichalcum chain as soft as silk, beautifully crafted plate mail of that same lustrous metal, a cloak of radiant white fabric that flowed like Essence... and my daiklave, with its distinctive blood red hearthstone. I regretted that I hadn't taken the weapon from Amira when she'd given me the chance. With what I was about to do, I needed it more than I'd ever needed it before.

As I'd anticipated, the Duchess brought the bulk of her forces charging at me. The fae were ferocious, but Amira kept them off of my back. The two of us tore through the heart of their army, I struck with every technique that I had mastered in all my years of secret training.

I lost my horse, and I leapt into the air, clearing half of the battlefield in a single bound. More than a few familiar faced stared up in shock. The faint flicker of light that had been steadily growing around me burst into a roaring golden bonfire. I landed in front of the Duchess with a force that shook the earth. She recoiled.

I was revealed. There was no more going back, no more hiding! And the more I considered that, the more I realized that I did not regret what I'd just done. Disorder overcame the fae. The center of our forces collapsed perfectly as the flanking calvary routed them from behind.  
The Duchess struck, snaring the blade with a whip of her silk and snapping it cleanly in half. With a sickening crack, huge spider legs grew out of her back, and her normally expressionless face split into a horrifying maw filled with hundreds of teeth. I parried two of her attacks with my bare hands, but then she caught both of my legs with her silk and swept them out from under me.

"The Duchess snarled. I gritted my teeth and tried to shield my face as she spat blood on my face. She certainly had more teeth than I remembered seeing before, and she was extraordinarily strong. I tried to break free of her grasp, but she planted one of her legs on my chest, shattering my armor. The blow knocked the breath out of me, and for a moment I felt sure that I was about to be eaten alive.

"Alexander!" Amira shouted.

Something whizzed through the air, and the Duchess jumped back. I caught my daiklave as Amira hurled it in my direction. The moment I touched that weapon, I remembered who had given it to me… and _why._

 _The_ _war_ _against_ _the_ _Primordials_ _had_ _finally_ _ended,_ _and_ _the_ _Incarnae_ _were_ _firmly_ _established_ _as_ _the_ _rulers_ _of_ _Heaven._ _There_ _were_ _not_ _many_ _of_ _us_ _Solar_ _Exalted_ _still_ _remaining_ _after_ _the_ _last_ _battle,_ _only_ _seven_ _out_ _of_ _the_ _three-hundred_ _forged_ _in_ _the_ _beginning_ _of_ _time._ _And_ _as_ _the_ _greatest_ _of_ _the gods_ _prepared_ _to_ _depart_ _the_ _world_ _and_ _begin_ _his_ _new_ _work… he_ _gave_ _each_ _of_ _us_ _a_ _gift._

 _"Creation_ _is_ _yours_ _now," the_ _Unconquered_ _Sun_ _said_ _as_ _he_ _placed_ _the_ _daiklave_ _in_ _my_ _hands._ _"Take_ _care_ _of_ _it."_

At that moment, I felt as though I'd been Exalted a second time. The connection that I'd often sensed between the Unconquered Sun and myself was no longer fragile. My anima exploded outwards in all directions, and a sea of white-gold phantasmal soldiers formed of Essence charged all around me, burning through the fae as if they were nothing more than feeble scraps of paper blown on the wind. I'd never felt anything so profoundly liberating! My Caste Mark wasn't just burning. It was a searing beacon, the core of a pillar of light that could be seen for miles.

I brought my daiklave down with all the strength I possessed. The Duchess collapsed with an ear-piercing wail, all of her spidery limbs rolling around her seared corpse until there was nothing left of her but a dark smear on the ground, and the stench of decay.

The fae began to flee. Whatever sense of solidarity had united them against us… it was gone at that instant. Shrieking in terror, the thousands of goblins scattered, clawing and scrambling over one another in an attempt to reach the trees.

A single figure dressed in scarlet robes caught my eye, and as she vanished into nothingness, leaving the rest to be cut down… I knew that I had seen the real mastermind behind the attacks. Though I was too late to stop her from escaping, I committed her appearance to memory. Our paths would cross again. The story of what had happened would spread. A Wyld Hunt and a pack of Lunars uniting under the command of a Solar? Bards would be singing about it for centuries to come!

I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling the sun on my face. I was still enveloped in light. The world around me felt a little blurry, as if I could reach out with just one hand and push it in any direction I wanted. The power was staggering. I would have collapsed under the weight of it, but the Unconquered Sun kept me on my feet.

I let my daiklave rest on my shoulder, and began to walk towards Amira. Everyone gave me considerable space, not that I blamed them. Some of the soldiers I'd served with for years reached nervously for their weapons as I passed by, and others turned and fled.

The Sun-King Seneshals cleared a path for me. The Lunars were still in their most ferocious forms, and they bowed as I passed by. Some of them wept. There were those like Silvermane and Amira, who remembered the world that I only dreamt of. For centuries they'd lived on the edge of civilization, hoping the Deliberative would rise again. And for the first time in what must have felt like an eternity, they had seen proof that it _could._ I was that proof.

I stopped for a moment in front of a young barbarian girl, who looked out of place standing between two huge beastmen. Her face was streaked with ash, and she clutched her bloodstained ax so tightly that her knuckles were white. She slowly lifted her head to look at me.

"Alexander!" Amira exclaimed. She was glowing very brightly herself, her tattoos burning silver along with the mark on her brow.

I almost fell as she tackled me with a hug.

"Alexander?" I echoed.

Her face fell. "I'm sorry. I _know_ you're not him. It was just..."

"Damnit, Amira!" I sighed. She looked surprisingly fragile, as if she expected I was going to scold her. Before she could escape again, I kissed her in front of everyone.

The Seneshals evidently approved. Their cheering was deafening.

Perched atop the corpse of a fae monster with several of my soldiers, Roach hooted and howled like a wild dog. While I didn't appreciate his behavior, I was glad to know that he was still alive.

I already knew that there were many dead, but this time I could not blame myself for not trying to save them all. Silvermane gave me a fine First Age salute, still holding one of his ancient banners. He tore it from his spear, folded it twice, and presented it to me. Apparently, my performance had lived up to his expectations.

Mnemon Rai could not look in my direction. He shielded his eyes, and said nothing at all. It was just as well. I'd served the man long enough that I knew what he was thinking. He knew that he should hate me for what I was, but he could not find the strength to do so.

I'd already said my parting words to him, but I slowly removed his blue cloak and held it up. He stepped forward and took it back. Our hands didn't touch, but through the fabric I felt a ripple of air from his flaring anima. I wasn't sure what he felt, but for the briefest of moments I saw something in his eyes that reminded me of the awestruck barbarian girl. Then, he was my old commander again.

I remembered what Amira had said about the Dragonblooded... that if not for centuries of lies, they would gladly fight alongside us. It was what they had been created to do, and denying the will of Heaven was no easy task.

I turned to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Amira demanded, resuming her usual form. "Aren't you coming with us?" She gestured to Silvermane and the waiting Seneshals. I remembered the terms of our earlier agreement.

"No," I decided. "But you can come with me."

"Oh, I'd follow you even if you forbade me to! You're going to need my protection! Word of this is bound to spread. Pretty soon you'll be dodging every two-bit Immaculate who wants to bag himself Cathak Loren "the Great Faeslayer"."

"I probably should stop using my name, or we'll have all of House Cathak after us too." I admitted. "Besides, Loren "the Great" doesn't really have a ring to it."

The sound of horses galloping up behind me caused me to turn. It was Roach, pursued by no less than half of the Winglord's remaining men.

"Boss, wait!" He shouted. "Wait for me!"

"What did your lackey do?" Amira stared in disbelief.

"Well, if I know Roach, he just told Mnemon Rai that he knew what was going on all along," I laughed slightly. "Looks like we'd better start running."

"Honestly, Alexander… would you have it any other way?"

"I thought you were going to stop calling me Alexander," I sighed.

"You said you needed a new name!" She reminded me.

"But _Alexander_?" I protested.

"Alexander _the_ _Great,_ " Amira winked. "Now _that_ has ring to it, don't you think?"


	7. Chapter 6 - Master Ilumio (Veritas)

**Chapter 5**

 **Master** **Ilumio** _(Veritas)_

I was lying under a hay wagon in an undignified position when I first caught sight of the Scarlet Legion. Rumors traveled quickly between villages in the mountains. I'd know for days that the Scarlets were coming, but it had been five years since I'd last witnessed them in action and I'd almost forgotten how impressive they were. The soldiers seemed ready to charge an army of demons at any moment, although they were only climbing a little hill.

Barely wide enough for a cart, the old road led from the Imperial City all the way to the Abbey of Mela. Of the many bastions of the Immaculate Order, the Abbey of Mela is the most remote, located atop the single highest point of the Blessed Isle... or at least the highest point that anyone ever built something on.

Word had it that Dragonlord Cathak Chiron and his Scarlets were bringing an important gift for Abbot Manu. I'd volunteered my services in the nearby village of Smoke for the past three days, hoping to see the man whom some swore would soon take the throne. What did a prince capable of ruling the earth look like? Did he radiate power? Was he inherently noble and selfless?

Was he a tactician, or merely an unparalleled warrior? All of these things seemed important to me.

I scrambled to my feet as the Scarlets approached, and bowed when they stopped. Dragonlord Chiron glanced down at me. I did not have to guess who he was.

Physically, the Dragonlord was well-bred Fire Aspect, with red hair, yellow eyes, and a reptilian sheen to his skin, which was pockmarked with ruddy scales. I was not very good at guessing the age of Exalts, but I suspected he was at least two-hundred years old. He was obviously vigorous still, but he did not look young. He looked tired.

Riding at the Dragonlord's left was an ugly bureaucrat with a round face and a long hooked nose. He wore a tiny pair of dark glasses and the simple black robes of a middle-level government official. I thought I recognized him, and so I bowed very low, hoping he had not gotten a good look at my face. In the past, I'd had trouble with the law, and although I could no longer be prosecuted for my "crimes", I was not in a hurry to be slandered and abused again.

"You, monk! How far is it to The Abbey of Mela?" Dragonlord Chiron addressed me with some annoyance in his voice. I didn't like how rude and impatient he was, but he'd clearly been on the road for weeks. I brushed the dirt from my clothes and attempted to compose myself.

That was when I noticed one of my ratchets had fallen out of my tool chest and was picking up momentum rolling down the hill. I stopped it with my foot, bounced it up into the air, and caught it behind my back. It was no great feat, just a simple mathematical calculation and an efficient application of martial arts training... but from the startled expression on Dragonlord Chiron's face, I gathered that what I had just done looked quite impossible.

"You're very near, Dragonlord," I admitted, pretending I had done nothing clever at all. "In fact, you will see it when you clear the top of this hill, sir."

There was a lot of whispering going on. More than a few of the Dragonlord's soldiers were apparently impressed by my little trick. The ugly bureaucrat laughed, and Dragonlord Chiron turned to him with a frown. "Something funny, Iron Lotus?"

"Did you see how he saved his little tool? Dragonlord, this _must_ be the monk that all the peasants were talking about!" Iron Lotus laughed, snapping his fan in my face. The man radiated laziness. He fanned himself like the pampered dog he obviously was, adjusted his sunglasses and continued talking over me as if I wasn't standing there at all. The longer I stared at Iron Lotus, the more I became convinced that he and I _had_ met before... and under circumstances I did not wish to repeat.

"Is he now?" Dragonlord Chiron evaluated me with a suspicious glare. "What is your name, monk?"

"The peasants call me Recluse, sir. After the spider," I replied. Truthfully, I didn't mind my nickname. If anything, I wore it as a badge of pride. It had been very difficult to win the trust of the mountain clans, particularly since I've never been very good with words. Fortunately, one thing the locals did seem to appreciate was a good knowledge of engineering. My little projects all over the highlands had done wonders for the Abbey of Mela's reputation. Daimyos who'd never done anything but rob monks in the past were expressing an interest in Immaculate Philosophy, particularly if adopting it would get them better bridges and more effective weapons. Though I was generally opposed to violence myself, I was not too naïve to realize why the local warlords all liked my marble-shooting toys.

"Recluse? That's not your given name, surely?" Dragonlord Chiron observed. "You're too pale to be one of these highland barbarians and your High Realm is very good. The best I've heard in this provincial backwater."

"Oh, it's mostly Low Realm around here... when the locals will even speak to you, sir," I laughed slightly. "Although we _are_ more civilized at the Abbey."

The Dragonlord gave me a suspicious look. "You don't sound like a monk."

"No man is born a monk, Dragonlord," I paused. It was more than I wanted to say.

"So what were you born as?" He pressed. "You sound like a Dynast."

"Ah, no, sir. Only a humble merchant," I replied. "But good manners were very important to my mother," I added. It would have been rude not to answer his question, but the way his lackey watched me made my skin crawl.

"Ahah! I _knew_ I recognized you! You're Veritas Ilumio!" Iron Lotus exclaimed.

My face burned and I gritted my teeth as he called me out. Once I would have acknowledged my extremely flamboyant name with pride... but it had been five years since I was publicly disgraced.

"Dragonlord, this monk was once the premier jeweler of the Imperial City!" Iron Lotus continued. "Everything he touched was _exquisite!_ He commanded exorbitant prices for his work, and he lived like a prince! I've heard stories about his villa. He had _doors_ which opened themselves! I imagine something like that was difficult to steal," he remarked casually.

I wanted to protest, but I knew that it would be futile to do so. I'd built my own damned doors, and I could have proven that if someone hadn't burned my lovely little house to the ground. My trial had degenerated into a public circus, and the few people who remembered my name associated it with cheating. Even after five years, nothing stung more harshly than the accusation that I was incapable of creating the things I'd poured my heart and soul into. I was an artist. The thought of taking someone else's work was inconceivable to me.

"Reduced to fixing wagons, are we? I suppose you have finally learned that nothing but misfortune awaits those who do not respect their true place in the Perfected Hierarchy," Iron Lotus laughed. It was impossible for me not to scowl at him. There was something in the way that he seized hold of my past, tore it up, and threw it out for everyone to see that made me want to strangle him. Worse still, he didn't appear to be a Dragonblood himself... which meant most likely that he was what I had once been, simply a skilled mortal servant of very high standing. How could he say such things to me, if he were a mere mortal himself? Didn't he know how precarious his own position was?

"So you are the tinker whom my dear friend Manu put his neck out for?" Dragonlord Chiron observed. "I had a very different picture of you in my mind."

 _Tinker_.

Hearing that word, and pretending it didn't bother me was like swallowing lead.

Tinkers mended pots and door latches! I was _not_ a tinker!

"Are you annoyed that you are unrecognizable?" Iron Lotus taunted. "I suppose if you must wear the robes of a novice monk, nobody will mistake you for an Exalt."

"How am I responsible for what other people think?" I demanded, speaking out of turn.

One of the numerous crimes I'd been convicted for was "impersonating a Prince of the Earth", a thing which I had never done. Apparently, being very successful and spending my money as I liked constituted damning evidence on that count.

"Iron Lotus, that's enough! Before you lecture others on their place, you would do well to remember your own!" Dragonlord Chiron scolded, slapping Lotus roughly on the back of the head.

"But of course, milord! You'll not hear another peep out of me!" Iron Lotus coughed and bowed his head slightly, adjusting his sunglasses. That was when I recognized him. Of course, the last time I'd actually seen the man, he'd had shorter hair and a mustache... and had gone by the name "Quick-Clawed Raven". Prior to that, he'd come to see me at my home, dressed like a Sijanese exorcist with a fine necklace that he wanted me to repair. He'd introduced himself as "Himitsu" and promised me an exorbitant reward for what seemed a trifling task. And of course, it was that damned necklace which had lead to my expulsion from the Imperial City and my former profession.

Whoever he was, he was _very_ good! He'd looked like a completely different person each time our paths had crossed before. Perhaps I never would have caught him at all, but his eyes were singularly unforgettable. They were still so a dark a purple as to appear almost black, and flecked with bits of silver that reminded me of stars in the night sky. When someone thoroughly ruins your life, you take great pains to remember what that person looks like. I'd drawn a sketch of him on the wall while I was in prison and pitched rocks at it to pass the time.

Gritting my teeth, I walked directly up to Himitsu and punched him squarely in the face. In his moment of surprise, I seized him by his belt and threw him off of his horse. Had he been a Dragonblood, I would have certainly been killed for such a rash action, but with him a mortal servant and myself a just _slightly_ Enlightened monk... we stood on fairly equal footing. If anything, I held a slight physical advantage, having spent the better part of the last five years studying martial arts.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dragonlord Chiron demanded.

"Why don't you explain, Iron Lotus? Or should I say... _Himitsu_?" I demanded.

Himitsu blanched at the sound of that name and stumbled away from me, his eyes sparking with fury behind his stupid little sunglasses. I was proud to see that I'd bent them beyond repair.

"Monk, that's enough!" Dragonlord Chiron scolded me as though I were a child, which I had gathered was his preferred manner of talking to anyone who was not a Dragonblood.

"Dragonlord, that servant of yours is a villain! He's the reason I'm here, reliant on the charity of Abbot Manu!" I explained, taking care not to speak poorly of my benefactor. "He framed me and almost caused me to lose my hands!"

"Nonsense! Iron Lotus has served me faithfully for..." Dragonlord Chiron paused. "That's odd. I... can't remember when I hired him." The expression on his face soured immediately as he realized that he might have been deceived himself.

Himitsu scowled.

"Dragonlord, he's _not_ who you think! He has some sort of foul power that makes him seem familiar, even to strangers! Yes, his name _might_ be Iron Lotus and he may be your servant, but it is just as likely that he is Quick-Clawed Raven working for House Ledaal, or an exorcist from Sijan called Himitsu! I know who you are!"

Something happened as I said that. It was as if the whole world shook for one tiny, almost imperceptible moment.

An expression that was part shock and part fury washed over the Dragonlord's face as he turned very slowly to face his retainer. "What is the meaning of this?" Dragonlord Chiron snarled. It was obvious that he'd tested my words with a Charm and found them to be true. Of course, it is very foolish to attempt to deceive a Dragonblood. The Essence that they possess, the divine power which sets them apart from mere mortals also gives them ways of discerning if they are being lied to.

Several Scarlets went for their swords. For a moment I was certain that Himitsu had reached the end of his rope, and that gave me tremendous, smug satisfaction. But then everyone froze. They hesitated for some reason. I felt a sharper pinch, just like the first. What was happening?

"Oh, _Paradox_!" Himitsu cursed, probably the most unusual oath that I'd ever heard uttered before. He disappeared like a little god in the middle of the night.

"Find him!" Dragonlord Chiron ordered, and his men scattered. He looked down at me, and I bowed my head. Although there were many things I wanted to say at that moment, my master was behind me.

My years of training as a monk had made me particularly sensitive to the presence of the revered Abbot Manu, who liked to view my work. He had a strong interest in seeing how things went together and came apart, but not much dexterity when it came to tiny or delicate pieces. From the questions he often asked me, I suspected he would have preferred to be a carpenter or a blacksmith instead of a monk. Of course, a Prince of the Earth could not choose such a humble path.

Abbot Manu had obviously come out to see what the commotion was, and must have arrived right when I'd thrown Himitsu from his horse. He looked extraordinarily displeased. As a rule, the old Air-Aspect was as even-tempered as Dragonbloods ever were, but he was particularly sensitive about his mortal monks behaving offensively in the presence of their Enlightened superiors. More importantly, I did still owe him the use of my hands.

But that didn't matter. If I knew one thing with certainty, it was that Himitsu was already long gone. Clearly, his greatest power lay in his ability to disappear! At very least, no one had been able to find him on the day of my trial. For the life of me, I did not understand what the scoundrel was doing! He'd already ended my career and almost ended my life! What more did he want from me?

I had a sinking suspicion that I would soon find out.

I said nothing as Abbot Manu embraced Dragonlord Chiron. Several patrols broke off from the Scarlet Legion to search the forest for Himitsu, and the rest rode on towards the Abbey. They were quiet and respectful, not defiling the sanctity of our mountaintop with cursing, shouting, or too loud laughter.

Everyone seemed confident that Himitsu would soon be caught. Abbot Manu sent out messengers to the closest two warlords, Lord Okafune of Smoke, and Lady Tsubushima of the Snow Owl Clan, warning them that there could be a very dangerous trickster in their midst. Though Abbot Manu did not say as much, I suspected that he also sent along a bit of jade to speed along the search.

After the proper letters were written and some of my brother monks sent out to deliver them, everyone gathered in the main hall for our evening meal. Only Dragonlord Chiron, his two bodyguards and Abbot Manu lingered in the courtyard, sitting by the well and discussing something that seemed very serious. I'd been scrubbing the floor as slowly and carefully as possible, wanting to hear as much as I could of their conversation. Even after the bell for services rang, I continued to work.

"Recluse?" Abbot Manu summoned me.

I put aside my scrub brush and stood. "Yes, Abbot Manu? Should I go to services now?"

"No. But come closer. I don't want to raise my voice," he replied.

I did as I was told, and stared in confusion as Dragonlord Chiron's bodyguards brought forward a black lacquered chest, beautifully detailed in gold. I was sure that it was Abbot Manu's mysterious gift. "That is very fine lacquer. A lovely gift for our noble Abbot," I said. I did not bother to explain that I was an authority on such things. It was obvious that Dragonlord Chiron already knew.

"Sit down," Dragonlord Chiron ordered. "The rumors are somewhat misleading, I fear. What I have brought here is no gift for Abbot Manu. It is a terrible treasure that I have unearthed, and it is for you."

"You brought that here for _me_?" I blinked in surprise.

"Yes, monk Recluse. Or should I say... _Master Ilumio_?" Dragonlord Chiron smiled slightly.

I said nothing in response. It was thoroughly inappropriate for anyone, even a Dragonlord, to ask a monk to reconsider the life that he had forsworn with his vows. The strange thing was, Abbot Manu did not seem displeased. If anything, the little spark in his eyes seemed to suggest that he was very proud to show off the curiosity he'd collected five years ago.

"I saw the wedding bands that you made for Sesus Nakira. I thought for certain that they were the work of a sorcerer," Dragonlord Chiron admitted.

"Now you honor me too much, Dragonlord," I bowed when I spoke so that he would not see me smile. I remembered the rings that he'd spoken of very well. They'd taken me _months_ to complete.

"I am not a man who wastes time or money. I would not have brought this chest all the way here if I did not believe that there was some chance, however slim, that you could accomplish the task that I am about to lay before you," he paused. "Inside this chest is an artifact. It has troubled me since I uncovered it during the war. I have never found anyone who can tell me what it is. But recently, Abbot Manu wrote me a letter. Mela sent him a dream, and in his dream he saw me give this chest to you. So now I am curious to learn what happens next."

"My lord, I may dabble with pocket watches and simple machines, but I know nothing about artifacts," I hesitated. While that wasn't precisely true, no mere mortal could call himself an artificer, even if he did repair an artifact from time to time. Actually crafting artifacts _was_ the preserve of sorcerers, who were always Dragonblooded. "Surely, one of your Enlightened brethren..."

"Oh, there are many who would _kill_ to get their hands upon this, that I know! But I want to see it repaired, you understand? I don't want to turn it over the Heptagram and never learn what it might have been!" He explained. "I also take my honored friend's suggestions _very_ seriously," he gestured to Abbot Manu. "I suppose I need not tell you that he has great faith in your skill."

The three of us all sat in silence for a moment.

"Might I see it?"I wondered, my fingertips trailing a few inches above the perfect lacquer.

"By all means!" He nodded.

Taking a deep breath and steeling myself for whatever jumbled, incomprehensible mess I might behold, I opened the chest. Wrapped in a crumbling piece of ancient silk was a device unlike anything I'd ever seen before.

I stared in awe. It took every ounce of resolve I possessed for me to close my mouth so that I did not look like a gasping fish. Words would not come to me.

I picked up the first piece of the artifact, a flawless ivory mask, so heavy it might have been made of stone. I slowly lifted it from its resting place, held it an arm's length and studied it. I got the distinct impression that it was also studying me.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I stared at that mask. I'd never seen anything more beautiful. More strangely still, something about the device stirred my heart. It was as if I'd been looking for it for a very long time. Abbot Manu seemed surprised, perhaps because the prophetic dream Mela had sent him was actually playing out.

As far as I could tell, what lay inside the box was a raiment of some kind. The mask was clearly meant to attach to a small golden piece which looked like a soldier's gorget. That piece connected to the large chest plate, and the chest plate connected to the back plate, but there were infinitely more pieces! Ten five foot "tendrils", each about an inch in diameter, made of articulated white jade and silver lay coiled together in the bottom of the casket. The fabric the thing had been wrapped in had long since disintegrated, revealing a spiderweb-like lattice of gossamer threads and even more gold and silver! Whatever it was, it was a prince's ransom in rare materials!

Seeing that I was utterly speechless, Dragonlord Chiron laughed. "I imagine I must have looked just as shocked as you are now when I first laid eyes upon that thing," he admitted. "Take all the time you need, and tell me if you learn anything. Also, this might help." He reached into the folds of his coat and offered me an egg-sized white hearthstone. It flickered faintly as I touched it.

I picked up the section of the device that was clearly meant to be the hearthstone setting, surprised at how heavy it felt. Small as it was, it had the weight of a brick, and when I bit the gold to test its quality, I nearly chipped my tooth.

It took me a moment to realize what I was actually looking at. There wasn't a piece of ordinary metal anywhere on the device. It was all magical! What I'd mistaken for _gold_ was pure orichalcum! I'd never touched the legendary metal before, and could not stop myself from reacting like a fool.

"Do you realize what this is?" I demanded, forgetting my place once again.

"Can you fix it?" Dragonlord Chiron asked, completely ignoring my question.

"Fix it?" I blinked in shocked. "I haven't the foggiest idea what it does! I'm talking about the metal!"

"Monk, you forget your place. I brought this here for _you_ to tell _me_ what it is, and whether or not it can be replaired. Though I will admit, I have been sorely tempted to take apart for the gold," He paused. "Don't think of helping yourself to any of those broken pieces!"

"I would _never_ steal... did you say _gold_?" I blinked at him in surprise. I'd thought when he'd dismissed me before that he actually had some idea of what the artifact really was. But if he didn't even recognize the material that made up its components..."Dragonlord, surely you..." I decided to hold my tongue. Criticizing the Dragonlord's intelligence was probably not a very good idea.

"What? He raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"It's not gold. It's _orichalcum_. It may look delicate, but it's as heavy as lead and far stronger than steel. I'm surprised you didn't guess that already, lugging this box around," I explained. "Sir, _no one_ crafts orichalcum like this. This was made by Anathema," I explained, referring to the terrible golden demons that had ruled all of Creation more than 1,500 years ago.

" _Anathema_?" Abbot Manu murmured.

Though no one liked to admit it, since the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress forty years ago, there had been _many_ more sightings of Anathema than ever before. Abbot Manu speculated that the Dragons were displeased with the backstabbing and character assassination currently taking place in the contest for the Scarlet Throne. Heretics whispered that the Anathema were returning to reclaim the world which had been stolen from them.

I sighed heavily in defeat. "To be perfectly honest, I don't know where to begin! And all of this is magical material! It can't be worked without Essence!"

"So? You're Enlightened for a mortal, aren't you?" He pressed. "Use your own."

"It won't be enough," I told him truthfully, bowing my head.

"It will get you started," he replied.

I said nothing in response. It wouldn't have been appropriate, although I was extremely upset by Cathak Chiron's apparent disregard for his treasure. If something so rare and spectacular had come into my possession, I would have taken it directly the Heptagram's finest Exalted artificer... not to some pathetic mortal monk who'd once made lovely jewelry.

Since I had come to the Abbey of Mela, I'd trained and meditated diligently, hoping to unlock whatever little Essence I possessed. The results of my efforts were dismal and heartbreaking. True, I had cleared a tremendous hurdle in touching my own life force at all... most mortals never did, but it frustrated me that manipulating it was so murderously difficult. My Essence was clumsy and weak. Working with it was like working with cold hands.

Raised in a relatively liberal merchant household, I'd never gave much thought to the Perfected Hierarchy before I'd involuntarily entered the Immaculate Order. I'd scoffed at the idea that the Dragonblooded were my inherent superiors until I'd succeeded in unlocking my own feeble Essence. That was when I realized that the Immaculates were right, and that I was wrong. Essence was the key to everything, the lifeblood of all Creation. It was only natural that whoever wielded it should be the masters and the rest of us their servants. Put simply, there was _nothing_ it could not do.

"As I've already explained, I have my reasons for bringing this device to you," Dragonlord Chiron replied. I was beginning to suspect that those reasons were less than honorable, and that perhaps the Dragonlord was not the fine, upstanding Dynast he wanted everyone to believe that he was. "You should be grateful that _someone_ still believes you have skills at all! Think of this as an opportunity to prove to me that you are indeed a great artist and not merely a _thief_. I am prepared to give a substantial donation to the abbey for your pains," he casually remarked.

Abbot Manu heard the word "donation", although he had miraculously ignored the rest of our conversation. "He will do it," he replied on my behalf.

"I'll try," I sighed in defeat. "But I am only human, milord."

"I understand that you have limitations," Dragonlord Chiron nodded. He motioned for his bodyguards to pick up the chest and turned to leave the room.

"As do you, Enlightened master." I smiled slightly despite myself.

"What was that?" Dragonlord Chiron frowned. For a moment I thought he'd heard me. My heart skipped a beat. Every so often, my reckless tongue still escaped me. "Nothing, milord." I replied... and left myself.

The Dragonlord's bodyguards who'd brought the lacquered chest into the Abbey followed me with it all the way up six flights of stairs to the tiny tower room that served as my workshop. The ceiling was barely tall enough for me to stand up straight, and when the three of us together lifted the heavy device up onto my worktable, it made both the table and the floor groan.

The bodyguards left without saying anything at all. I stared at the box. I was torn. I knew I had no business touching the artifact, but at the same time I had to see if I _could_ fix it. My curiosity compelled me. More importantly, a simple mortal monk did not refuse the orders of a Dynast.

Of course, the consequences of making a mistake while working on a complex magical artifact were potentially devastating. Although I was no Exalt, I was a master of my trade. I could work very carefully. It was better that I should undertake such a task myself, rather than leave it to an overzealous amateur who would surely blow himself to bits.

I put on my glasses and went for my tools.

Technically, a monk is not supposed to keep the trappings of his previous life, but the Abbot had given me sanctuary specifically for my unique skills, and so had been obliged to let me keep a good set of tools uniquely suited to the practice of my trade. I chose my smallest pair of watch pliers and the finest screwdrivers I had, hoping they would be delicate enough for the challenge of working on a magical artifact.

Once I was sure I had everything in order, I slowly began to set out the pieces of the device.

It did not take me very long to discover that it had been purposefully disassembled, not shattered. It was broken, and someone had been trying to fix it.

The part of the gorget which connected to the hearthstone socket was burned black and there was a long crack in the back plate that the tendrils attached to. A nasty gray tarnish had devoured most of the surface of the orichalcum. I removed it meticulously with polish and a small amount of Essence, smiling despite myself at the way the metal glowed golden in the sunlight. Truly, it was as beautiful as the stories said.

The damaged part of the device seemed like the easiest piece to remove, so that was where I began my work. Inside was a vision of glorious complexity that far exceeded the most brilliant watch I had ever disassembled. Simply exploring the heartstrings of such an artifact sent a thrill coursing through me. Working on watches had always been one of my favorite tasks. Sometimes I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to charge for my services. Not for the first time, I lamented my current position. Low-ranking monks such as myself were expected to spend most of their time gardening or cleaning. I hadn't done fine work in far too long, and I felt unforgivably clumsy. Nevertheless, I'd had more opportunity to ply my trade within the walls of the monastery than I would have had in prison with no hands.

"Well, aren't you _lovely_?" I whispered. The delicate gears fluttered under my breath like tiny butterflies. Though some might think it strange, I always talked to artifacts as I work on them. Although I know they can't hear me, I've never been able to shake the feeling that if they could, they might appreciate hearing a few comforting words as I subjected them to painful repairs. Taking a sick thing and bringing it back from the verge of death reminded me of my childhood ambition, to study medicine. An apprenticeship to a family friend was the best that my staunchly middle class parents could arrange, and I never begrudged them that. Being a jeweler suited me. And if I had become a surgeon, perhaps I never would have run afoul of House Mnemon and been sent to the Abbey where I had finally unlocked the very thing which separated mere mortals from the illustrious Dragonblooded.

 _Essence!_

The project that lay before me would have been impossible without it! Every piece needed a gentle touch and a small amount of Essence before it would allow itself to be worked. Just taking the central section apart took me the entirety of my first working day.

And yet I plodded steadily forward, undeterred. I lost track of the time as I worked and rudely dismissed the novice who called me for evening prayers, not wanting to break my rare and beautiful focus. I worked all night and into the morning, stopping only for the occasional drink of water, more paper to make notes, and sharpened pencils.

Dragonlord Chiron came to my door several times and peered inside but never spoke to me. It was clear that whatever I was working on was far more important than anyone could know. Confident after two days of ceaseless study that I _could_ unravel the device's secrets, I continued to work like a man possessed.

"Is he brilliant or mad?" The Dragonlord whispered. He was hovering in my doorway again, and evidently he thought I couldn't hear him. The monk he was speaking to only shrugged.

"Both," he confessed.

I ignored him.

Inside of the chest plate, I discovered a mechanism designed to handle different types of Essence. When I tested the device with a mote of my own, the needle had wobbled only slightly, and I recognized the ancient symbols for the five elemental Dragons not far from the bottom of the gauge.

The shocking thing was how many _higher_ settings there were, nine of them in all! The device had obviously been made to handle unthinkably huge quantities of power, far more than any Dragonblood could ever bring to bear! And if my assumptions were correct, then the radiant sun next to the number "9" near the top told me everything I needed to know.

Whatever it was, it had last been used by one of the Anathema.

While I wouldn't deny that Anathema justly needed killing before they burned villages to the ground, ate babies, or did any other unthinkable things... I feared for the safety of our quiet monastery. The device I was working on had a very personal feel to its construction. It was obviously something the demon had made for himself, or for someone he dearly cared about.

Did Anathema feel love? I wasn't sure about that, but if the artificer was still alive, I knew he _would_ come for his device. The longer I worked, the more I sensed its importance. Every piece was excruciatingly perfect.

I kept working.

After three solid days with little more than a crust of bread to fill my stomach, I discovered a tiny filament of unidentifiable silvery metal, almost like spider's silk blocking one of the channels that the hearthstone was supposed to fuel. Everything else I'd examined seemed to be in working order, and so I decided that it was time to introduce more power and see what happened next.

I took the hearthstone that Dragonlord Chiron had given me from my cache of parts and held it up to the light. It was exquisite. No mortal hands could have given it such a precise cut.

I adjusted my lenses to their highest magnification and picked up my smallest pliers, connecting the nearly invisible slot in the back of the stone into the hearthstone socket. A smoky flicker of feeble white Essence coursed through the entire device. The energy I'd poured into it diligently over the last three days had been enough to cause it to accept the stone. Of course, I had nothing left myself, but I was confident that I had done the impossible.

I'd fixed a First Age artifact!

With my work complete, I should have immediately called for Abbot Manu or Dragonlord Chiron, but I was struck by a sudden selfish desire. Perhaps I was already burning the very fringes of my soul, but I wondered recklessly if I dared use the last of my Essence to wake my long-suffering patient so that she would know who it was that had fixed her.

I put my fingertips on the draw points around the central hearthstone. At first I gave only a little Essence, but the device greedily drank it up and so I gave more, ignoring the lightheaded feeling that had come over me.

"I see you're not picky," I smiled slightly as I drew away. "Any Essence is good Essence, eh? No surprise there. You must be positively starving."

Of course, the device said nothing, though I swore I saw her nod slightly. Her tendrils made her look like a very large spider. I've always liked spiders. I would save them from my mother's broom and put them in the garden when I was a child so that I could admire the webs they built.

"I'm very honored that you would choose to let me fix you. You've been most cooperative." I paused. "But I do dearly wish I had some idea of what you were meant for before I turn you over to... well, the person who owns you now."

The device slumped slightly, looked exhausted. The Essence I had fed her was faintly flickering and filmy white, reminding me of my weakness. I was toying with something built by monsters more powerful than the gods, and I wasn't even a Dragonblood! I'd failed! I was a fool!

Still, I _needed_ to finish what I'd begun, for reasons I couldn't explain. Dragonlord Chiron and Abbot Manu were the least of my worries. The device looked so utterly pathetic that I felt as though I'd killed her. I'd never been so frustrated in my life. I was on the verge of throwing my tools out the window and cursing all the Dragons at the top of my lungs. Since coming to the Abbey of Mela I'd prayed for a chance to do something significant, something that would prove once and for all that I was not a criminal or a hack! My failure was even more intolerable because I knew that if I didn't succeed, no one would ever have faith in me again. Worst of all, the device would be taken away from me! I would lose her, just as I'd lost everything I'd ever valued in my life!

 _Her_?

It was an unusual thought, but it had been in my mind for some time. I wasn't sure when the device had stopped being a "thing" and become _someone._

That was when I saw what I'd done wrong. My patient was faltering, not because I couldn't save her, but because I'd made a simple mistake! The sun was began to set outside my window, and its fleeting rays caught the fine orichalcum needle of the device's internal gauge. For some reason it had turned itself completely to the left, back to the setting intended to handle the tremendously powerful Essence of one of the Anathema.

I took my smallest pliers and carefully brought it down to its lowest mark, for mortal Essence. Without hesitation, I poured everything I had left into the device, not caring that Abbot Manu would find me unconscious on the floor in the morning. My body began to feel clumsy and heavy. I cursed in Rivertongue under my breath, something I hadn't done in years. It was the native language of my parents, and though they always spoke High Realm in public to appear properly sophisticated, there were some words in Rivertongue which conveyed frustration and disappointment like no others. Life in the Scavenger Lands was harsh by any standards, and its people were always dreaming of greener pastures.

I knew that I didn't have the time to wait until my Essence recovered. I paused for a moment to meditate and tried to quell the burning desire I felt to finish what I had started. My attempts to compose myself failed spectacularly. I was not willing to admit defeat! Not caring how dangerous my obsession had become, I put my hands back on the draw points and fed the device the very last dregs of my Essence. My vision went dark. I would have passed out and cracked the back of my head on the floor if my stool hadn't been set so close to where I stood that I stumbled into it and fell forward into my work table instead. Barely eating and not sleeping for days had taken too much out of me.

I thought for a moment that my heart was failing and I was about to die, but then I felt a sudden clearing in my mind. As when I'd first awakened my Essence, I touched upon a wellspring of power I'd never known before. The difference was, this power wasn't a faint spark barely bright enough to catch my inner eye. It was a source so vast and potent that I could not believe it was within me. I'd been looking for a cup of water and had nearly fallen into an ocean!

I had no choice. I seized onto what I'd found, and tried draw it out. I reached further into the core of my being than I'd ever reached before, to a place beyond any meditation. A thousand strange images poured through my head like a raging flood, leaving in their path not wreckage... but _clarity_. I'd been expecting pain and hoping for a breakthrough, but nothing like what I was experiencing.

I'd been transfigured! I'd been broken all of my life and suddenly... I was _fixed_!

Or no... there had never been anything _wrong_ with me before! What I struggled against was nothing more than the typical, inefficient, superfluous junk that slowed down every mortal! I hadn't realized how worthless it all was, how cluttered my mind had been until it was suddenly wiped clean and sorted _so_ neatly! I wasn't just fixed! I was _perfect_! I was better than I'd ever been!

Has I gone completely mad?

Was madness supposed to be so profoundly _liberating_?

I stood up straight and put my hands firmly on the device, at once understanding it in all of its horrifying complexity and knowing exactly what I needed to do. Like a lord issuing orders to a servant, I told it to wake up. Fiery golden light flowed through, illuminating patterns and symbols that had been invisible to the naked eye. It burned like a falling star.

I staggered into my stool, staring up in awe at the device which had begun to rise up into the air under its own power, bleeding an aura of blue, crimson and gold. The empty eyes of the ivory mask glowed white, and the expressionless face twitched in a surprisingly human manner. My patient evaluated me with obvious intelligence, and I realized that I had severely underestimated her sophistication.

She was a construct! A _living_ artifact! I'd only heard legends about such things. No one credible had ever seen one. They'd all been destroyed with their demon masters in the ancient battles that had preceded the foundations of the Realm. The sight of her hovering across from me was glorious. A fierce pride welled up in my chest, a feeling that I'd almost forgotten.

I'd done the impossible, the work of gods! I'd created _life_!

That was when I saw my own hands. I cursed again in Rivertongue. It was all I could do.

Flickers of the same gorgeous Essence that radiated from the device raced between my fingers. I could mold it effortlessly, and I intuitively understood how it flowed as I never had before. I took a very deep breath, and exhaled slowly. The power around me rippled, like the surface of a pond disturbed by a pebble. Even after so long without food or sleep, my mind was as sharp as a scalpel blade, and my hands were steady.

I felt _right_ in a way that I never had before, and that was terrifying.

I slowly turned in the direction of my door. My mother had willed me a good-sized mirror that I sometimes used to improve the light while I worked, and it was hidden near my closet to prevent the other monks from jabbering too much about my wealth of distracting worldly possessions.

I never paid much attention to the mirror except when I needed light. I'd taken great pains with my appearance when I still worked in the capital where people cared about such things... but after I'd given up all of my fine clothes and shaved my head, I'd stopped caring how I looked. At that moment, however, I found myself utterly paralyzed by my own reflection.

I stared in horror at the brand between my eyes, a glowing half circle that resembled the sun falling over the horizon. It was the same luminous color as the tiny orichalcum gears scattered across the surface of my work table, and the ambient ripple of oranges, reds and white-hot blues that flickered around my fingertips when I so much as _thought_ of Essence made the horrible truth even more obvious. I'd madly embraced a vast power that had reached out to me in my moment of desperation, and I'd never once considered what it might be. How could I have been so blind?

I'd become Anathema!

"Veritas! Open up immediately!" Abbot Manu ordered, pounding on my door. I could hear the sound of a dozen other monks and more than a few of Dragonlord Chiron's soldiers running up the stairs and I did not wait for them to break my door down. I grabbed my tools and seized the device, wrapping it around me like a cloak. The gorget automatically snapped around my neck and held fast. Heavy as it had been before, it weighed nothing then, and fit perfectly and comfortably over my shoulders. The sensation of the ivory mask falling over my face was shockingly familiar to me, but I had no time to wonder _why_. Even if I was Anathema, I didn't want to die!

The last thing I saw as I jumped for my notes was the face of Dragonlord Chiron. His daiklave brought my door crashing down, and he stared at me with his jaw dropped, not as if he'd seen a demon... but as if he'd seen a ghost.

My door was blocked. That meant there was only one way out. Not caring that I was more than five hundred feet from the ground, I leapt out my window, shattering all the glass. As I fell from the top story of the monastery towards the river in the valley far below, a familiar, insistent voice whispered in my ear what I needed to do.

I don't know how I understood the instructions I received because I'm certain they weren't in High Realm, Rivertongue, or any language I thought I knew. Still clutching my precious tools and notes, the device's spider-like tendrils flailing all around me, I made a sign with my hands and spoke a single, earthshaking word.

As I uttered it, the world exploded into light all around me. When I tried to understand what had become of my body, I saw only a flock of brilliantly colored little songbirds.

Not knowing what else to do, I flew in the direction of the setting sun.


	8. Chapter 7 - Godchaser (Veritas)

**Chapter 7**

 **Godchaser**

I don't consciously remember landing. When I awoke, I was lying on my back somewhere high in the mountains. I scrambled to my feet and immediately tripped over my toolbox.

Composing myself, I considered my position. The last few hours were _not_ a nightmare. I'd fixed the First Age artifact, jumped out of my window, and _flown_ away from the Abbey of Mela. As wretched as I felt, I also sensed that the new Essence in my body was rapidly mending the injuries I'd sustained falling from the sky. Apparently, being possessed by a demon did have certain benefits.

I did not know where I was. It was bitterly cold, and I was hardly dressed for the weather, although I did have a magnifying glass that I could probably use start a fire with the light of the sun. While most of my tools were not meant for heavy work, having something which could be used for cutting wood or skinning an animal also improved my chances of survival.

I walked for a few hours before I found a cave. A pair of fallen columns near its entrance suggested that it had been part of a building once. The walls inside were covered in Old Realm inscriptions. I recognized a few characters, but not enough to read much. If I hadn't been so cold, I might have spent more time studying the ruin, but as it was, I was rather fixated on obtaining as much dry tinder as possible.

The stringy old moss I used to start my fire smelled awful as it burned, but it helped the bigger logs to catch. As soon as I could feel my hands, I decided to take off the device that I was still wearing. At first, I couldn't figure out how to remove it from my neck, but then my fingertips brushed an elegantly concealed switch.

I held the device in front of me and examined it. It no longer appeared to be alive. If I'd thought it was a beautiful, alien object before... I knew it much more intimately then. I could picture what it had once looked like when its internal components were concealed beneath folds of fine white silk.

It was obviously important. But what was it? A kind of armor, or s _omething more?_

I set it down and it suddenly rose up into a sitting position. " _Translator calibration complete._ " It quipped in Rivertongue, speaking with a young woman's voice.

"You can speak?" I stared in shock. I'd almost fallen flat on my back seeing it move under its own power.

"Maker?" The device wondered. Apparently she could also wrinkle her nose and raise her eyebrows at me. It was difficult to ignore that my shelter was _very_ well-lit, and not by the fire that I'd started. In my efforts to scrounge for more tinder, I'd discovered that I could cause the brand on my head to spark like a fresh struck match. The light it made was a soft, rosy golden color unlike any torch or candle.

"Were you expecting someone else?" I laughed slightly. After the trouble I'd gone through, and all the trouble that was still to come for me... I'd repaired a machine capable of thanking me for my efforts and it had no idea who I was!

"Maker!" The device exclaimed, overjoyed. "Oh, I _knew_ it! I should have expected that you would wear a different face by now."

"Do I know you?" I wondered uneasily, a little disturbed by how comfortable I felt having a conversation with something that looked like an enormous spider with a human head.

"Of course! You're my Maker!" She replied.

"No, I didn't make you!" I argued. "I don't even know what you are!"

"I'm the 9HE2TD, 3.0!" The device informed me.

"And that means _what_ , exactly?" I wondered.

"Ninefold Harmonic Essence-Tracking Teleportation Device, of course! But you call me Godchaser," she replied.

 _Godchaser._ I considered the nickname. When I'd first seen the device activate, I'd become convinced that it was a terrible weapon. But now that it was speaking to me, I was beginning to think that "toy" was a more apt description.

"So what do you _do?_ " I wondered.

"What would you _like_ me to do?" Godchaser replied innocently.

"You do whatever I tell you to?" I hesitated.

"You're my Maker."

"But I _didn't_ make you! Yes, I fixed you, but..."

I almost said that I'd gotten lucky, but then I considered my predicament.

Godchaser gave me an irritated look. Clearly, she was annoyed by my protests. "Maker, I have spent a very long time in a _box_ , getting passed from one ignoramus to the next! Hundreds of worthless Dragonbloods, and not one of them could fix me! I thought I'd be in pieces for eternity! But when you picked me up, and you looked at me... oh, and I _knew!_ "

I stared at the construct. I'd sensed, somehow, that she was watching me from the moment I'd first touched her mask. Abbot Manu's prophetic dream did not sit well with me either. Although it was heresy to suggest such a thing, it seemed as though Heaven itself had conspired to bring Godchaser to me. But why? What use did the Dragons have for Anathema?

"So... _why_ did I make you? What's your _primary function_?" I asked, not knowing what possessed me to string those two words together. It seemed like a very arrogant way of saying "What do you do?" but Godchaser had already misunderstood that question when I'd previously asked it.

"I chase gods. Well, I help _you_ chase gods. Not just gods though. Fae. Demons. Anything with Essence. Particularly, you built me to..." Godchaser paused. "Uhoh. Some of my data has been corrupted." She hesitated for a moment. "Maker, I am afraid that I have not been keeping up with my maintenance as you requested."

"Data?" I echoed. The word seemed both foreign and familiar. Apparently the device had some sort of library inside of it that allowed it to think and behave like a human being. More surprisingly still, it could also conduct some of its own repairs.

"The maintenance you requested," she repeated. " "I keep forgetting. There is something wrong with my data. Uhoh. Some of my data has been corrupted. I have not been keeping up with my maintenance as you requested. Oh no, I can't find the data, I can't find it at all! Oh, this is terrible! Oh, I'm very sorry, Maker... but I can't answer your question!"

She looked so painfully distressed that I found myself smiling slightly.

"That's all right. It wasn't important," I reassured her.

"You're not angry?" Godchaser seemed surprised. "I thought you'd be furious."

"Furious?" I laughed. "How could I be furious? You're brilliant!"

"Aww, don't make me blush!" Godchaser giggled. It was not the sound that one might expect from a machine. Whatever she was, Godchaser was most definitely alive.

"You're very dashing, you know." Godchaser informed me. "This new face you have. I like it. You'll look better when your hair grows back, of course."

As she flattered me, Godchaser's own face vanished. I stared at my own reflection in a haze of golden light. I didn't look much like a monk. My glasses were bent, and I'd neglected to shave my head or my face for the past week as I worked on repairing Godchaser. I had a straight razor in my tools, but nothing to make a lather with, so I supposed I'd have to ignore it. Of course, the demon brand still flickering between my eyes was another matter entirely.

I very slowly reached up to touch it. Essence nipped at my fingers. It wasn't painful, but it was a peculiar feeling. Godchaser giggled.

"It's nice being fixed, isn't it?" She said.

"What do you mean, _fixed_?" I asked, although the memory of what had happened in my tower room was still sharp in my mind.

"Well, you were broken before. You couldn't use your Essence," Godchaser replied. "But then your Maker fixed you, just as you fixed me."

" _My_ maker?" I echoed.

"Yes," she nodded. "Of course."

My fingers drifted toward the construct as I noticed a black mark and an ugly dent in her chest plate. Although I wanted to ask Godchaser who she thought my "Maker" was, I couldn't stop staring at the damage. "I thought _I_ fixed you," I admitted.

"You did. Well, mostly anyway. But then we fell out of the sky, and I got all jumbled again." Godchaser reminded me. When my fingertips brushed the black mark, I realized that I could heal the torn metal with my will.

"Hee!" Godchaser exclaimed. "That tickles!"

I stumbled away from her as I realized that I'd just instinctively worked a Charm like a Dragonblood would. Though using _Crack Mending Technique_ was far less dramatic than what I'd done to escape the Abbey of Mela, it shocked me more than turning into a flock of birds had. The difference was, I hadn't known when I'd leapt out my window that I _would_ fly to safety. But when I'd put my hands on Godchaser, I'd _known_ what I was doing. I'd _chosen_ to do it, and that difference made everything suddenly real to me.

"Something wrong, Maker?" Godchaster wondered.

"Isn't it obvious?" I demanded, shaken. "I'm _Anathema_! I'm a gods-be-damned Unclean monster!" I buried my face in my hands. "I wonder... should I kill myself now, while I still have my wits?"

"No, Maker!" Godchaser was absolutely aghast. "Oh, so horrible! Please don't say that!"

"Why not? It's the truth!" I replied. "I'm a demon, and if I don't want to do something unspeakable, I'll have to either kill myself or stay far, far away from civilization for the rest of my days! If I was braver, I would have let Dragonlord Chiron cut me down! What would you have me say?" I demanded.

"I would have you say that you are my Maker, and that you are now as you have ever been, Chosen of the Unconquered Sun and Exalted of the Twilight Caste."

I noticed that Godchaser had specifically used the word " _Exalted_ ".

That was something I understood. The Dragonblooded were Chosen by the Immaculate Dragons to rule over the earth, which was how they gained their powers over the five elements. The Incarnae were the distant rulers of Heaven. I'd never imagined that someone could be Exalted by their leader, the great Unconquered Sun. It seemed outrageously far-fetched... and whether I wanted to admit it or not, rather spectacular.

"I heard those nosy Dragonbloods who were spying on you. That business about the Perfected Hierarchy and whatnot? Nonsense, that's what it is! All of those monks are broken and they are going to need lots of fixing!" She informed me. "Maker, you are _not_ a demon! You're a _Solar_!"

My heart jumped at the sound of that word. For a moment, I actually _believed_ her.

"I can't believe I'm listening to this!" I sputtered. "Oh, Mela, I am getting dragged into the pit of Malfeas! Stop, _stop it_ you crazy machine!"

Godchaser was not amused. "How callous of you, calling me a machine! You ought to know that I'm no more an ordinary _machine_ , than you, Maker... are an ordinary _man!_ " She replied. "And if I am crazy, it's only because you made me that way!"

That ended our conversation for the night. I began to wonder if I'd stolen a great ancient weapon only to discover that it was actually a wife in disguise.

The next day I went out in search of foot, taking Godchaser with me. If anyone had seen me, they might have fled in terror, thinking I was being devoured by some fae-tainted spider or something else too unspeakable to consider. I didn't know much about high mountain plants, but I picked some berries that the deer were eating and succeeded in scaring a mangy wolf off of a freshly killed rabbit. As it turned out, glowing like a demon with Godchaser around my neck and shouting obscenities in Rivertongue was far more effective than hunting with only a stick and a good selection of pliers.

I prayed my meager meal wouldn't make me ill, but I doubted that Mela looked after Anathema and I'd never felt very strongly connected to any of the other Dragons, who were all more martial and ruthless. The whole time I ate, Godchaser said nothing. While we had been out hunting for food... I'd lost my wits and told her to shut up or I'd dismantle her.

It took some hours to coax Godchaser out of her sulk, and convince her to explain a few things to me. A fair amount of snow was coming down, and I didn't want to make an attempt down the mountain until I was certain that the storm had blown over. More importantly, I needed to know everything about my companion if I planned on surviving. As it turned out, I had escaped the Abbey of Mela using a spell of Emerald Circle Sorcery called "Flight of Separation".

"But I'm not a sorcerer!" I protested. Mortals could be petty thamaturges, but only Dragonbloods were sorcerers.

"Of _course_ you're a sorcerer!" Godchaser replied with her usual persistence. "A great old Devonian sorcerer of the Adamant Circle, no less! You should be _very_ proud of that! Why aren't you?"

I said nothing but only pointed to my forehead. The mark on my brow made far better light for working than my silly mirror ever had, but just knowing that it was there where anyone in the world could have seen it made my skin crawl.

"Right. You don't want to talk about it," Godchaser replied flatly. The way her tone changed when she was annoyed with me was one of the many things that made her seem very much like a person and not a machine at all.

As I'd foraged for food, I'd explained to her in meticulous detail just what kind of reception awaited me at if anyone ever discovered what I'd become. She still twitched whenever I spoke the word _Anathema_ , so we'd come to a compromise. Godchaser would stop spouting off soliloquies on how wonderful I was... if I would stop saying "that A-world" and conduct the additional repairs she needed.

"No sulking! Work! Fix me some more! You'll feel better if you do!" Godchaser teased.

I gave her a condescending look, embarrassed to admit that she already knew me far too well. Although I still worried about the source of my new strength, I no longer dreaded working with Essence. It was actually rather soothing, almost like painting with watercolors.

"You know, I'll starve to death if we don't leave this place soon," I grumbled.

"I'll be far more useful to you, Maker... if _you'd_ finish fixing me!" Godchaser said.

"I'd work quicker if you'd shut up!" I retorted.

"But you wanted me to talk to you before!" She replied, not deterred by my harsh words. She knew that I didn't mean them. I liked hearing her voice. It reassured me that even if I had gone mad, at least I wasn't alone. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a friend.

"When you were working on me, you must have said a dozen times how _beautiful_ I was!" Godchaser giggled.

"That was before I knew what you were really like," I replied, smiling at Godchaser's scowl. "Rude! Why do you torture me?" She demanded. "I have a heart, you know. Well, a hearthstone. It's basically the same thing."

Godchaser continued to ramble as I worked on her internal components, curious as to what I was doing, and never content to stay still. Apparently, she'd been designed to fly around under her own power, although presently she could only hover in place if her Essence stores were completely filled. I couldn't imagine how much trouble she might become if she had arms or legs of her own. She certainly had enough attitude to make up for the lack of them.

It did come as a bit of a shock to learn that I'd only just scratched the surface of her complexity. In all the days that I'd spent trying to repair Godchaser, I'd only succeeded in solving the problem of her inability to hold Essence. Her ability to record and play back everything that she heard or saw seemed to be in working order, but Godchaser still could not access her "data" and her other "functions" which included "track", "hover" and "teleport" were all completely useless. To be honest, I was completely overwhelmed by the prospect of being able to jump from one end of Creation to the other.

But what worried me more was how little I really knew about Dragonlord Chiron and his suspicious not-servant. Was it true that he didn't know what Godchaser could do? If any Dragonblood possessed enough Essence to keep her running and enough technical skill to dismantle her independent personality, she would be the ultimate Anathema-hunting machine.

"Ouch!" Godchaser yelped. I winced, realizing that I'd accidentally touched two moonsilver connectors together. When they were filled with Essence, some of the smallest pieces twitched enough to make a surgeon squirm.

"It's no use!" I sighed in defeat and put down my pliers. "I don't know what I'm doing!"

"I wish I could help more, but I think your manse is failing." Godchaser sighed heavily. "Oh, if only I could teleport us home!"

I stared at her hearthstone. It flickered. She was right. It did look somewhat duller than before.

"So where is your manse?" I asked, before I realized I'd just made a tremendously silly slip.

" _My_ manse!" Godchaser giggled. "As if _I_ were an Exalt, and not just a silly little AI?"

"AI", I had learned, stood for "Artificial Intelligence" and was one of the terms that Godchaser sometimes used to refer to herself. She explained that the difference between what she was and a "construct" was that constructs were for fighting and doing physical work. They obeyed certain commands and behaved in predictable ways. Constructs were simple things that "even Dragonbloods" could build.

Godchaser was an AI... a machine actually capable of _thinking independently and making its own decisions_. More terrifyingly still, she displayed emotions and clearly possessed the capacity to learn. Nothing nearly as sophisticated had existed anywhere in Creation in a _very_ long time... and many people believed that such things were mythical.

"All right, where is _my_ manse?" I sighed in defeat.

"Above your city, of course!" Godchaser replied.

"My _city_?" I demanded. "I don't have a city, Godchaser. Right now, I don't even have a tent! Could you be more specific? The city you're talking about might not exist anymore."

"Oh, it does! I heard the Sidereal who was following that Dragonblood mention it! Hm now, Nexus! Nexus, that's it!" Godchaser exclaimed. "I remembered!"

"Wonderful. Of all the cities in the world, I get Nexus! The Harlot's Legs!" I groaned. "At least they speak Rivertongue!" I sighed heavily. At first I didn't even notice that Godchaser had said anything strange, but then one of the words she had spoken started twisting uncomfortably in the back of my mind, like something I should remember.

"Maker," Godchaser looked extremely disturbed. "I have just had the most uncomfortable thought. Some of my very important data is missing. Can you tell me... what is a Sidereal?"

"I don't know. I was hoping you would know," I admitted, although I didn't like the word Godchaser had used any better than she did. "You said there was one with Dragonlord Chiron?"

"Yes! This is what he looks like!" Her mask changed, revealing the unmistakable countenance of my old enemy. I decided that I would continue to call him "Himitsu" because that was the name of his that I'd heard first. I knew it meant "Secret" in an Eastern dialect of Low Realm and that seemed particularly appropriate.

"A Sidereal is _very bad news,_ " I replied.

I was disappointed to learn that Godchaser knew nothing about Himitsu at all. I asked her to tag him as "trouble" and alert me immediately if she sensed him nearby. Though I had never heard of a Sidereal before, if Himitsu did have Essence of his own, that certainly explained how he was able to so effortlessly thwart everyone who'd tried to get a straight answer out of him. He obviously did not want anyone to know what he was.

As much as I hated Himitsu for what he'd done to me, I did understand his fear. I needed to venture into civilization, but I was afraid to show my face. I was also afraid to leave Godchaser behind. Though no one had discovered my cave, some of Lady Tsubushima's men had skirted very near to it.

Unfortunately, counting the days that I had starved myself in my workshop, I'd been nearly a week without substantial food and the weather was steadily growing colder.

Carrying Godchaser on my back, I came down from the mountains and crept within sight of a little town on the river. Despite my companion's vocal protests, I buried her in the snow underneath an odd-looking tree. I had no money and nothing to trade, but I did have my tools and in places so far from civilization, the kind of skills I possessed were _always_ worth something.

I'd made myself look as un-monklike as possible, making the most of my six days worth of beard and cutting my undershirt into a cap like the locals wore. I'd crushed some of the berries I'd been subsisting on and cooked my clothing inside of my toolbox until it became a shade of purple-brown. The lacquer I'd painstakingly applied so many years ago was ruined, of course, but that also helped me to look less conspicuous. Better that the locals should think I had angered my daimyo and been thrown out of my village... than for them to suspect that I was the Anathema currently on the run from Dragonlord Chiron and the entire Abbey of Mela.

The only thing I couldn't do anything about were my slippers. I hoped that people would ignore them... or maybe suspect that I had simply robbed a monk for his good shoes.

"Excuse me," I said in Low Realm to the first peasant I passed. "I desperately need food. I have no money, but I'm willing to work."

"Work for food?" He gave me a critical look. "Phew! You stink like deer berries!" He observed.

"I've been living on them," I admitted. "I was robbed on the road and this is the first village I've come to. The only thing I have is my tool chest. I guess it didn't look very valuable." The excuse sounded pathetic when I heard it out loud, but bandits were common enough on the borders of Snow Owl lands, so the peasant seemed to believe my story.

"I can fix things," I added. That was such an understatement that it almost made me laugh. The Unclean, despite being horrific monsters, were indisputably recognized as the greatest craftsmen that Creation had ever produced. If I could repair an intelligent construct, I could certainly sort out a broken door lock or a clogged-up water pump.

"What kind of things?" The peasant wondered.

"All kinds of things," I replied. "If you've got a watch or a... well, I suppose you wouldn't have anything like that. I could um..."

"I've got a watch," The peasant said. "And if you can fix it, I'll give you as much food as you can carry."

"I could use a blanket too. Is there anyone around here who might be able to spare one?" I paused, thinking for a moment that I was asking too much.

"Might be. Let's see how you do with my watch."

I followed the peasant to his house, and his wife made a great show of gasping and sobbing over how blue my fingers were. She fed me a bowl of thick broth and a crust of black bread before she'd even allow her husband to go looking for the watch that I'd promised to fix. It took him more than two hours to unearth it, which was good because that was about the same time I needed to warm up before my hands felt steady enough to work.

The watch, when he placed it on the table in front of me, was clearly more than a hundred years old... a ship captain's watch probably from somewhere in the far west. The silver was frosted with salt and the glass that should have shown the device's face was impossible to see through.

"This watch belonged to my grandmother, Hawk. She was from Coral, the daughter of a Sealord." The peasant explained with a proud, innocent grin that left me convinced that his story was at least partially true. "She ran away from home and became a Tya. But then on one of the ships she raided, she met a poor prisoner who said he was the son of a daimyo. A prince, he told her. She fell in love with him and gave up being a Tya so that they could come here together. And then..."

"The sailor lied?" I guessed.

"No, my grandfather _was_ a prince! His name was Sun Yu, and he was the seventh son of the warlord Kamakura, the same daimyo who was overthrown by the Snow Owl Clan in the year of the great flood. My grandparents fought together at the gates of Kamakura's fortress until the warlord surrendered. They were heroes... but no one knows their names these days. I have been the headman of this little village since my father died many winters ago. It is not a very good position. My illustrious ancestors left me nothing at all except for this land which can only grow potatoes and ill-tempered sheep. And this watch, of course, which does not run, and the sword over the mantle that has not been drawn in forty years." He explained. "All worthless. It would be nice if... something I had was made good again."

I nodded, my attention somewhat divided between my hosts and the salt-encrusted watch in my hands.

"I'm named for my grandfather, Sun Yu. I am the third one to carry that name, and the only one that was never a warrior," he explained. "And this is my wife, everyone calls "Mother Hen". Because as you have seen, that's what she acts like. What's your name?"

"Recluse. Like the spider. Because I'm always hiding away somewhere, working on something." I replied before I could think better of myself. All things considered, it was very unlikely that the Snow Owls or the Smoke Clan would be asking for a "Recluse". They were probably riding as fast as they could, shouting "Anathema" when they thundered through a village, and expecting signs of horrible devastation.

Sun Yu didn't seem to think anything of my name. Truthfully, I suspect that I was more impressed by him than he was by me. Of all the places I might have found myself! Pirates and princes in a village that wasn't even marked on any maps? It was a bit like being a character in one of _The Tales of the Wandering Monk_ , the stories I had loved best as a child.

All of the "Wandering Monk" stories began the same way. The wandering monk arrived in a village and helped someone seemingly insignificant. Over the course of the story he learned that the person he helped is secretly a princess or something similarly impossible. In the end, he saved the day in dramatic fashion and then walked off into the sunset, never to be seen again.

There was a kind of magic to Sun Yu's tale, and I decided that it didn't matter if it was true or not. It made me feel good, and I genuinely wanted to help him. I opened my toolbox. The peasant and his wife both looked very surprised.

"Those are some very fine tools you have," Sun Yu observed.

"I used to be wealthy. I suppose I've been moving down in the world for some time," I admitted. "Bur I don't think that I could ever give these up." I admitted, holding my favorite pair of little pliers up to the light of the lamp that my hosts had sent in front of me.

"Oh, you poor dear!" Mother Hen clucked. "Things will look up soon! It can't rain every day!"

"Well, there is one nice thing about hitting the bottom of the heap," I admitted. "At least things can't get any worse."

"You could always be dead," Sun Yu informed me.

"Yu!" His wife gasped. She slapped the back of his head. "What a terrible thing to say to our guest!"

"No, he's right," I sighed heavily. "I should be thankful. I could be dead. I almost was."

Finding the right size screwdriver, I carefully removed the back plate of the watch.

"When you were robbed, you mean?" Sun Yu pressed.

"Robbed? Oh, yes! Of course." I blinked in surprise, a little ashamed that I'd almost forgotten one of the most essential parts of my own fictional story.

As I had suspected, the watch did not come apart easily. I was forced to remove the face as well as the back and clean the salt out of both sides. When the gears still stubbornly refused to turn, I put on my glasses and took them out one by one, placing them carefully on a piece of paper – a page from my notes which I had carefully set face-down so that neither Yu nor his wife would have reason to ask about it.

I'd almost finished my work when a large diamond suddenly fell out of the watch and landed on my lap. I fumbled for it and held it up to the light, voicing my surprise loud enough to draw the attention of Sun Yu's nearest neighbors who were nearly a mile away.

"Merciful Dragons! Had you any idea this was in there?" I demanded, holding the diamond up for Sun Yu's examination.

"A _crystal_?" He wondered.

"A crystal? Sir, this is an uncut _diamond_! A diamond you could sell for a small fortune! As it is now, it's worth at least a hundred pieces of jade! And if you cut it perfectly, losing as little of the weight as possible... it could be worth five times that."

"A diamond! Did you hear that? Yu, we're rich!" Mother Hen exclaimed.

"Could _you_ cut it? Perfectly, like you said?" Yu wondered.

I didn't bother to conceal my grin. " _Absolutely!_ " I replied.

It had been some time since I'd had cause to touch my precision tools, and I'd always loved diamonds best of any stone. They were brutally hard to work, but they rewarded you like nothing else did, with such a lovely chromatic display of reds, blues, and golds.

And that stone... it was a beauty! When I had repaired the watch and almost finished polishing the diamond, Yu came to sit beside me. Mother Hen had long since retired for the evening, but my host watched my work in awe.

"Could you make a setting for that stone?" He wondered.

"I don't have any gold. And anything less would be shameful." I replied.

"What's this then?" Sun Yu wondered, producing a very thin piece of orichalcum from the bottom of my toolbox. I'd sheared it from Godchaser's hearthstone setting in an effort to help her retain Essence.

"Oh! A little bit of gold! How lucky!" Not wanting to show how terribly embarrassed I actually was, I took the metal and began to carefully work it into a shape that could cradle the diamond. Of course, orichalcum wasn't soft like gold, and it certainly wouldn't melt in Sun Yu's little household forge, but I discreetly gave it some Essence. If it glittered more than it should have or felt unusually heavy, Sun Yu said nothing at all.

"Not bad," I said, trying to downplay what I was actually thinking.

It was some of the best work that I'd ever done. I was supposed to be Anathema... a damned monster! How was it that I found myself doing the exact same things I had always done, but more ease and grace than ever before? Was my new found skill a side-effect of becoming one of the Unclean? I did not want to be a demon... but I _was_ a perfectionist.

A mad thought occurred to me. What if no one _knew_ that I was Anathema? What if I never did anything so obvious as turning into a flock of birds... a thing that still sent my mind whirling, and instead used my new skill to do ordinary work? Could I embrace the sense of clarity I felt without exposing myself to the obvious danger, the bloodiness, or the horrible stigma of being a demon?

How would I feel about what had happened to me if my own perspective was not clouded by the perceptions of others? Would I be less afraid? Indifferent? Or worse still, would I be so morally weak as to rejoice in my own damnation? Only one thing was certain. I'd never been so uncomfortable inside of my own skin.

Smiling slightly, Sun Yu took the diamond I had set and strung it carefully on a piece of red ribbon. Inspecting it in the firelight, he smiled. "I wish I could give you something more." He admitted. "The kind of skill you possess warrants something more than a blanket and some old potatoes."

"It's the least I can do. Without your help, I might have starved to death," I sighed.

"We'll sell it, of course," Sun Yu continued, his eyes still on his grandmother's secret treasure. "It would be mad not to. But I think Mother Hen ought to have the opportunity to wear it first. A real jewel, for the princess she should have been!"

"Of course," I nodded.

"Well, my friend Recluse! You're well named, I think... skilled as a spider. And so now that the wife's in bed, let's see what's inside my grandfather's sword!" Yu suggested, cracking open a dusty bottle of plum wine. He poured me most of it and went to take the blade down from the mantle.

I left the next morning.

As it turned out, there was nothing at all inside of Sun Yu's sword, though I did check both the scabbard and the hilt meticulously. I put a fine edge on the blade and warned the old farmer to be _very_ careful with it. Sun Yu and Mother Hen were very sorry to see me go and promised that if I ever needed anything again, I could simply come and ask for it. Seeing my host listening to the merry ticking of his grandmother's watch and his wife wearing the diamond I had cut around her neck brought a smile to my face. The fact that I also had a pack full of food, a blanket, and a good winter cloak was a mercy almost too great to be dreamt of.

I found myself almost skipping down the road. Now that I wasn't in fear of starving or freezing to death, I was beginning to see a certain appeal to the profession of a traveling tinker. Maybe I couldn't risk staying in one place long enough to be detected, but that didn't mean I had to live like an animal!

Whatever it was that made Anathema act like rabid beasts... it obviously hadn't affected me. Perhaps it still would, but then again... I _had_ spent most of the night dwelling on my own unanswerable questions as well as everything Godchaser had said. The strength of her conviction left me wondering if I was the ignorant one, thinking that Dragonbloods were infallible simply because they usually got their way. Dragonlord Chiron himself had thought _orichalcum_ was _gold._

"Oh Godchaser?" I called out as I returned to the place where I had hidden her. I couldn't wait to tell her how wonderfully my plan had worked. Finding a diamond inside of a pocketwatch! Really, it was a _perfect_ tale for the Wandering Monk! Truthfully, If I'd any talent for singing, I might have changed my profession to "bard" that very morning.

"Godchaser?" I repeated. There was no response, and as I saw that the snow had been disturbed, a sick feeling came over me. She was _gone._

I racked my brain. I'd no idea what to do. Part of me screamed that I had to find her immediately before she fell into the wrong hands, and part of me even considered running back to Sun Yu and his wife and telling them that my friend was missing. But I couldn't justify putting Sun Yu and Mother Hen in any kind of danger, not with the sort of people who were undoubtedly hunting me. And if I did ask for help rescuing a "friend" who turned out to be a completely self-aware First Age construct... that would be even more difficult to explain.

There were some tracks in the fresh snow, and though I knew less than nothing about navigating in the wilderness, I decided to stumble down them for as far as I could. It turned out to be far enough. In a small clearing near the edge of the river, six Snow Owl warriors stood. They were all staring at Godchaser, who was propped up against a tree. She had wisely chosen to act like an inanimate object.

Of course, she _couldn't_ move physically, but she might have been raising a verbal fit. While I did not doubt how smart she was, patience and humility were not her greatest virtues. I was glad to see that she was quiet... that would make it far easier to get her back. I'd given her enough Essence on the night that I'd awakened her that she had informed me that she would require no more to perform her "basic" functions. Part of the genius in her construction was her innate ability to reuse the Essence she already had, at least to a certain extent.

Although, once she could "teleport" again... Godchaser had coyly informed me that I would " _need to get used to glowing_ "... as if being publicly recognized as an Anathema was only a small emotional hang-up on my part, rather than a serious, life-threatening condition.

I could see Essence flickering in her eyes. She saw me where I hid.

I didn't have time to make up a very good plan. Being not particularly wilderness savvy. I probably made more noise trying to get closer to Godchaser than all six of Snow Owl warriors made sneaking up behind me.

I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender and slowly turned around. As the Snow Owls seized my pack and roughly searched me for weapons, I realized I probably shouldn't have used the story of being robbed on Sun Yu and his wife. Fate was evidently catching up with me quicker than I'd expected.

"He's not armed," one of the warriors announced, apparently satisfied by the search his clansmen had made.

"Not armed? What kind of idiot wanders around these mountains without a weapon?" Another demanded. He had the look of a leader... that is to say, considerably more scars and facial hair that his four companions, who were just boys. I doubted that any of them were more than eighteen years old. Of course, from the perspective of a monk, a walking stick was a better weapon than an ax or a sword, but I wasn't about to admit that.

"Looks like a tinker," the warrior who'd spoken first observed, opening my tool box the wrong way about and dumping all of its contents into the snow.

"A tinker? Didn't Lady Tsubushima say that the Anathema might be pretending to _fix_ things?" The one who'd spoken looked a bit like a girl, and was probably the youngest of the lot. But clearly, he was the smart one.

"Anathema?" I gasped. Hearing that word, I didn't have to feign shock and horror. "No, I'm not a demon!" I protested. "I'm just a tinker!"

"Then why were you sneaking up on us?" The leader demanded, poking me very hard in the chest.

"I was just curious! I wanted to see what _that_ was!" I pointed at Godchaser.

"It's demon armor, and if you touch it, you'll burn your eyes out!" The leader snorted, tossing me aside. "Now take your junk, "tinker", and get lost!"

"You're going to let him go?" The smart one protested.

"He's not Anathema," the leader scoffed. "He's an idiot."

I picked up my tools carefully, and locked them back inside their box. Though it was more than a little reckless to attempt what I was considering at that moment, I knew that if I didn't take Godchaser back, she'd be brought back to Lady Tsubushima's fortress and from there turned over to Dragonlord Chiron... which would make retrieving her virtually impossible.

Better still, the Snow Owls were off guard. There were six of them, but they only had swords that I could see, and I'd committed a good amount of time to studying Snake Style. I'd never tested my skills against opponents who might actually kill me before, but I didn't see how I had any choice. It was time to make my move.

I eased into Snake Form and expended just the tiniest amount of Essence, as Abbot Manu had explained to me was proper from the time I'd begun my training. But even that familiar stance felt very different. In light of everything that had happened to me, I shouldn't have been surprised to discover that the Enlightened martial art I'd always struggled with was suddenly as easy as the simple forms I'd been practicing since childhood.

I swept the leader's feet out from beneath him with my stick, struck him in the throat and kept moving. Borrowing the momentum of the big man's fall, I slid myself under the awkward lunge of one of his companions and finished off another with a forceful palm strike. The one I'd dodged went for me again, foolishly... only to find himself on the receiving end of a crisp, swift hook kick. I saw the smart one sneaking up behind me. He was just slightly faster than I was and managed to seize a wooden shield reinforced with iron before I hit him. I did not react fast enough to pull my strike, but it didn't matter. The force that I brought down on the shield was enough to split it down the center, completely shatter my stick, and knock the boy unconscious. I was a little upset that I'd destroyed the walking stick I'd only had for a short time, but more shocked by how I'd done so. Just how strong was I?

That was when I heard the distinctive hiss of a sword shearing clear of its sheath. The last two remaining warriors drew their blades. I disarmed the first by dodging his attempt to pin me to a tree and then the second with a tiger's mouth and a swift knee to the chest. I looked down at the leader of the boys who blinked up at me dazedly, still stunned by the strength I had used to drop him.

"I'll be taking my junk now," I informed him, walking over to pick up Godchaser. I snapped her gorget around my neck and she immediately curled one of her tendrils around my wrist. She couldn't move very well under her own power, but she obviously wanted to cling to me.

Not one of the Snow Owls moved until after I started walking away. Unlike the Realm's elites and members of the Immaculate Order, they did not consider themselves holy warriors on a mission to purge evil from the world. They were practical men. From their perspective, it made far more sense to lie down and accept defeat.

That attitude was part of the reason that the Realm generally left the mountain daimyos alone to do whatever they wanted. Most of them had been quiet for the better part of five-hundred years, but anyone who'd set foot in their territory knew that if the Realm ever pushed too hard, they would find themselves in the middle of a guerrilla war that would never end. The Snow Owls in particular knew how to _pretend_ to quit.

"Hey!" The leader shouted. He'd obviously just regained his breath. "Hey, demon! What the hell was that thing you did?"

"Snake Style," I replied, ignoring the fact that he'd called me out. "Look into it."

I paused by the road, just on the edge of the trees and slipped my cloak on over Godchaser's glittering orichalcum carapace. As I pulled up my hood, her mask fell softly over my face.

The sensation made me nervous. For a moment, I could hear the sounds of a battle raging around me, and then I returned to the present.

Even with a cloak on, I would have to keep my head down until I discovered a more efficient way of hiding my companion. Still, it was easier to wear her than carry her through the muddy rice paddies on the edge of Sun Yu's village. When I felt for sure that the Snow Owls were not following me, I whispered tentatively to my silent companion.

"Godchaser? Are you with me?"

"Best. Rescue. Ever!" She exclaimed. It was strange to hear her cheerful voice just behind my ear, as accustomed as I'd become to sitting her directly in front of me and talking to her like a person.

"I didn't come to rescue you, you stupid machine!" I lied. "I came to retrieve my hearthstone."

"You horrible..." It took Godchaser a moment to sort out what I'd actually said. I couldn't see the expression on her face, particularly since I was currently looking through her eyes. Her mask kept my face out of the wind, and I'd learned that while I was wearing it, Godchaser couldn't see me any better than I could see her. That was good, because even though I was trying very hard to sound serious, I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

" _Your_ hearthstone? Does that mean you believe me now? Are we going home?" Godchaser wondered.

"As soon as we reach civilization, I'm looking for a ship headed east," I replied.

"We're going home!" Godchaser exclaimed.

"What's this "we" business? I'm going to Nexus, and for that I need my hearthstone. You are expendable. In fact, I'm going to take you apart and sell you for passage!" I was joking, of course... but Godchaser was extremely gullible.

"No, Maker!" Godchaser protested. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Whatever I did wrong, I'll never-never-ever do it again!" She seemed so genuinely distressed that I almost felt guilty for teasing her.

"Calm down!" I sighed heavily. "You didn't do anything wrong! It scared me when you disappeared, that's all."

"Scared _you_?" Godchaser sounded absolutely incredulous. "I was _defenseless_! Just laying there like a..."

"Cloak?" I suggested. "I hate to be the one to tell you this, but..."

"I'm not a cloak! I am a very sophisticated artificial intelligence and essence-tracking teleportation device! I also have incredibly vast databanks!" She reminded me.

"You don't teleport! You don't even _hove_ r! And you can't access most of your data!" I retorted. "Face it, Godchaser. You're a cloak. A cloak filled with attitude!"

"Maybe you could design me _hands?"_ She suggested. "Then I could be your assistant!"

"I think that's a very bad idea," I admitted.

"But you're _thinking_ about it?" She pressed.

"I am thinking about it!" I laughed. "And I am thinking it is a _very_ bad idea!"


	9. Chapter 8 - Sam (Veritas)

**Chapter** **8**

 **Sam**

I continued to travel southeast towards the coast. The weather got warmer as I reached the foothills of the mountains, and only rarely did I see anyone on the road. To help pass the time as I walked, Godchaser took it upon herself to start teaching me the language known as Old Realm.  
She'd been shocked to discover that I didn't "remember" it, and I'd tried to explain to her that I did speak four languages fluently, which was a great deal more than most people did. I'd learned Flametongue to get better deals from gem merchants, and I'd grown up speaking Rivertongue and Low Realm at home. High Realm was the language of politics and business on the Blessed Isle. A handful of old monks and the Dragonblooded sorcerers who studied at the Heptagram were the only people who knew Old Realm. The language was functionally extinct.

That being said, I found myself picking it up very quickly. The challenge of learning something new also kept my mind off of the things I didn't want to dwell on.

I stopped whenever I found the opportunity, once to help a farmer when his wagon got stuck in the mud and later to repair a precious bracelet that a young girl had broken by fiddling with it too much. Her mother tried to pay me with a small knife, but I declined the gift.

I'd never carried a blade intended to be used as a weapon before, and I didn't feel that it would be right. If I truly meant to atone for whatever had caused me to become Anathema, I needed to be as good as I knew how to be. At least that was how I explained it to Godchaser, who still didn't understand why I felt that I should be doing penance.

Though I felt no different with each passing day, I couldn't help worrying that the worst was still to come, that perhaps all Anathema started out as normal people who didn't understand what had happened to them and only became creatures of evil over time. When I proposed that theory to Godchaser, she refused to speak to me.

Three days after my encounter with the Snow Owls, I began to see more travelers during the day. The mile markers on the road warned me that I was getting close to a town called Windfall. It was five days walking from Windfall to the medium-sized trading city of Chio. From Chio it was only a short river voyage to the coast where I could barter my way onto a ship headed anywhere in Creation. I had my sights set on Nexus, the city of my birth. I had not seen it since I was eleven years old, and I only remembered that it was very crowded, very corrupt, and very far away. All of those things sounded good to me, and having a destination in mind made walking easier.

As fond as I was of hot meals and good beds, I loathed sleeping on the side of the road. The only thing that made my journey bearable at all was the food and cloak I'd gotten from Sun Yu and the incessant chattering of my companion.

Though I had warned her about speaking when someone was liable to overhear her, Godchaser whispered her Old Realm lessons in my ear both morning and night. She also giggled maniacally whenever we passed something she felt she should comment on. When a very fat merchant on a swaybacked pony trundled past us, she gave me a gem of an insult that said all sorts of terrible things about the man and his mount, which she implied was his mother and possibly also his wife.

Occasionally my fellow travelers gave me strange looks, and I expected that had something to do with the fact that my "cloak" was snickering at them. While Godchaser's sense of humor was wicked by any standards, playing along with her and pretending to be a prince in disguise made it easier for me not to focus on the grim reality of my situation.

I'd only been a demon for ten days and already I'd nearly starved to death and beaten six men senseless. If that experience was at all indicative of the future that awaited me, there was no guarantee that I'd make it to Chio at all, let alone to Nexus which was more than three months away.

Still, the weather was very fine when I arrived in Windfall, and that brightened my spirits. I saw a little inn called "The Crossroads" and decided to see if I could trade work for some food and a bed. It was a long walk from Windfall to Chio, and even further to take the south fork of the road to Uzun or the Imperial City. I went into the inn and set my tools on a table very close to the door with a sigh of relief. I didn't want to leave them where they might be stolen, but the box was heavy and I'd been carrying it for days.

As I'd warned her many times, Godchaser kept quiet when I took her off and draped her over a chair near my tools. What she looked like was a simple gray cloak. I'd made a pocket inside of my hood so that I could rest her mask on the top of my head rather than wearing it over my face. While putting her mask inside of my hood and wearing it on my head like a hat made removing my cloak look a little awkward, it did keep me from looking like some sort of strange roadside phantom or fae creature.

The proprietor of the inn that I'd come to turned out to be a disorganized, nervous old man with a dozen half-finished projects lying about everywhere. I introduced myself as "Recluse" again without thinking and offered to fix his front door, which did not like to stay entirely closed.

That much done, I did a bit of work on his windows, moved along to his boiler, and then his mantle clock. I earned myself a new shirt for resizing a rich woman's uncomfortably tight wedding ring and also acquired some food from my host in addition to the room I'd been hoping for. I slept better than I had in weeks.

The morning I intended to leave Windfall I discovered that the inn was suddenly very crowded. I realized belatedly that I'd overslept almost to midday, and come downstairs just in time for lunch. Trying not to seem overtly paranoid by the surprising number of travelers scattered throughout the room, I took the only empty seat. It was next to a nondescript young man dressed in lamellar armor and a blue cloak. His army-issue sword was under his bench and a leather satchel that evidently carried all of his important correspondence was carefully set on the table where he could keep his eyes on it continuously.

I recognized the lightning-bolt insignia stamped on several of the papers protruding from his satchel. He was a member of a fairly well-known legion, the Ravenous Winds.

While the Winds did not enjoy the pristine reputation of Dragonlord Chiron's legendary Scarlets, they were well-loved. Very few of the Winds were Dragonblooded and even less of them came from Dynastic houses... and yet they were widely regarded as the most efficient Wyld Hunt ever to scour the face of Creation. A Wyld Hunt is a legion of the Imperial Army lead by a few zealous Dynasts and accompanied by a detachment of Immaculate monks. The Wyld Hunt's official task is hunting down heretics, criminals, fae, demons, and especially Anathema. In simpler terms, I was sitting right next to someone liable to kill me.

The owner of the inn brought me breakfast and refused to take any payment for the meal. Some of his gathered patrons whispered to one another and pointed in my direction.

"You must be the famous tinker," the messenger next to me observed. "Gordon won't stop going on about how you've fixed every damned thing that's ever been broken in this place... all for a bed and two square meals."

"It wasn't much," I replied.

"Are you kidding? _The_ _Crossroads_ has always been a dump! If it wasn't the only inn for miles it'd have no business at all! Crooked tables that make your dice roll badly, windows that won't stay closed, beds full of lice and lumps... I was raised here in Windfall, so I ought to know! People have been kicking the bottom of that door since my father was a child!" He rolled his eyes. "Name's Sam, by the way. I'm a messenger in the service of Winglord Mnemon Rai Jin."

"Shouldn't he be out in the Scavenger Lands?" I asked, not giving my own name.

"You know Old Thunderstormer?" Sam brightened.

"Well, I know _of_ _him_ ," I replied, cursing my own silly mistake.

Truth be told, I _did_ know Mnemon Rai Jin. I'd met him several times when he came to visit his eccentric sister who'd been one of my most devoted patrons when I still worked as Master Ilumio. While I liked the Winglord's liberal stance on giving mortals opportunities to serve as officers in his Legion, I was sure that if we were ever reunited, our reunion would not be a pleasant one. Among other things, "Old Thunderstormer" had single-handedly killed more Anathema than any other Dragonblood in Creation.

"He's a good commander. Well, he's fair anyway. About the only thing he won't tolerate is folks who don't pull their own weight. Say, have you heard the news?" Sam asked, gesturing to a roll of paper sticking out of his messenger bag.

"What news?" I wondered... hoping that it wasn't about me.

"Well, right now Old Thunderstormer is holed up near Nexus, and he's calling for reinforcements. Something about a fae army mobilizing in the East. The Boss is gathering up every Wind on the Blessed Isle and coming to his rescue," Sam continued. "You'd think it would be impossible to call up five-hundred men on such short notice, but if anyone can make an army out of nothing, Cathak Loren can."

"Should I know that name?" I wondered, certain that I'd heard it before, and recently.

"I probably shouldn't tell you this, but... it's the Boss who really runs the Winds. "Old Thunderstormer" is a great war hero and all, but he's practically retired these days. And Loren may be just a mortal, but there's no man or woman in our Legion who hasn't been whupped by him at least once. Some folks are saying that Old Thunderstormer is going to make him a Talonlord," Sam paused. His tone suggested that he expected me to understand everything he'd said, but I found it all very confusing and more than a little shocking.

A mortal, given the rank of _Talonlord_? That was news!

"If Loren was a Prince of the Earth... he'd be in his father's Scarlets for sure. Dunno how the Dragons missed him. Their loss," Sam shrugged.

"That's not a very wise thing to say. The Dragons don't make mistakes!" I scolded him, forgetting for a moment that I was no longer an Immaculate monk. I considered what Sam had said and realized that this "Loren" had to be Dragonlord Chiron's son. If all of that was true, we'd probably cross paths in the future. It was best to be prepared.

"Whatever you say," Sam shrugged, undeterred. "Say, tinker... what's your name, anyway?"

"It's Recluse. Like the spider," I replied without thinking.

Though I'd intended to adopt another alias, I'd once again given my nickname just as I'd given it to Sun Yu and the innkeeper. I'd have to move fast when I made it to Chio... before word arrived that the great and terrible Anathema was calling himself "Recluse".

Sam was not impressed. "Hunh. You mean like a brown recluse?" He suggested.

I nodded.

"But they're so _dull_!" Sam eyed my still very short hair which was coming in far redder than it had ever before. "You look like you should have a name with a little bit more flair. Like, I dunno... "Copper Spider"?" He suggested.

Godchaser giggled.

"What was that sound?" Sam blinked in surprise.

"I didn't hear anything," I lied.

"Hunh. Could have sworn I heard a girl right behind us," Sam paused for a moment and then returned to devouring his breakfast. I suspected it had gotten cold long ago with how much he seemed to enjoy talking.

"Well, I think it's time for me to be off!" I announced, picking up my things and not waiting for Sam's response. I nearly ran out of town in the direction of Chio and when I was certain that no one was close enough to hear me, I scolded Godchaser for her recklessness.

"I can't believe you!" I groaned. "That soldier heard you! Godchaser, we talked about this! If anybody sees or hears you... it'll be bad for both of us!"

"Awww... I couldn't help it! Maker, he doesn't know you are at all, and he named you anyway!" Godchaser replied.

"What do you mean?" I wondered uneasily.

"In the old days there were lots of lovely words for Solars," Godchaser explained. "The Twilight Caste were called Copper Spiders."

I didn't think it was as funny as she did. "I need you to be quiet if Sam catches up to us. Not even a giggle if he calls me that again!" I warned.

"Oh, but I hope he does! I think it's a wonderful sobriquet and I haven't heard it in ever-so-long!" She informed me. "It makes me think of Autochthon the Great Maker and well, you're my Maker and who wouldn't want to be compared to..."

Godchaser fell silent as Sam stepped out of the tavern, clearly looking for me. He said a few words to a farmer near the roadside and then mounted a rangy gray horse with a massive square head. He kicked the beast a little harder than I thought fair and came trotting up to me. I tried very hard not to appear distracted.

Though I didn't like to hear her singing my praises, when Godchaser had spoken the name Autochthon I'd felt a surge of familiarity. I wanted to know whatever it was that she had been about to say, and I was certain that she wouldn't remember she had been rambling about by the time that night fell. While not stupid by any means, I'd discovered that Godchaser's short-term memory, like her "data" was almost worthless... which explained why she sometimes seemed to have the attention span of a mayfly.

"Hey, Copper! I just talked to a friend of mine, and he's headed to the mill. That's on the way to Chio. You want to ride in a hay wagon for awhile?" Sam asked. "Those tools of yours look like they weigh a lot."

"I'm used to carrying them," I replied stiffly. "And I don't want to impose."

"It's not an imposition, and it'll save your feet for a few hours. Besides, it's a long way to Chio!" Sam warned. "Five days journey if you walk it all. Four if you ride today."

When he put it that way, I found that I didn't have the strength to refuse.

As it turned out, we both rode in the hay wagon. Sam ponied his horse behind and did all of the talking. The farmer that was ferrying us took his exuberance with a smile, and I didn't mind all of the chattering. As long as Sam was talking, no one was looking at what I was working on. Walking for days on end had given me no opportunity to work. The odd jobs I'd done in Windfall had also earned me two small silver coins which I intended to turn into a piece of jewelry I could sell when I made it to Chio. Of course, since I didn't have a heat source to properly coax metal into the shape that I wanted... I was secretly using just the tiniest bit of Essence to accomplish the task.

When the hay wagon reached its destination, I continued on foot and Sam accompanied me, dragging his obstinate horse. It was obviously not a well-bred animal, though he argued that it had tough hooves and good stamina, which were important assets from the perspective of a messenger. Although Sam could have made much better time riding, he seemed to prefer having my company. I enjoyed the experience of traveling with another person myself. It made me feel almost normal again.  
 _Almost._

We stopped long before dark that first evening, camping with a small troupe of actors that Sam had spied. Though I would have preferred to cover more distance in a day, Sam was clearly in no hurry to get anywhere. He joked and trotted his ugly horse in tiny circles until the actors invited us to eat with them, and then he revealed that he'd been carrying a decent bottle of wine. That bottle earned us not only the appreciation of our hosts, but also entertainment for the evening.

There was an old whore who had some skill on the shamisen, a pair of entertaining, bumbling drummers, a huge, hairy man billed as "The Beastman", a Djala acrobat, and a brother-and-sister fencing act from the far West. Their speech was incomprehensible, but their choreographed swordplay was very impressive. Last but by no means least, was a beautiful young woman who could have passed for an Air-Aspect Dragonblood. As it turned out, she was _not_ an Exalt, barely an actress, and even worse as a singer, practically tone deaf and prone to wheezing at the most inopportune moments. Not that it mattered. In most plays, the role of "leading lady" requires very little talent beyond shedding tears on cue and fainting convincingly.

I sat by myself, a good distance away from the actors. When Sam realized I'd wandered off, he came to find me. He hovered over my shoulder and watched me slowly twisting a long piece of wire that the "actress" had given me. She claimed she had found it lying on the road, and she didn't think that it was worth very much. I was losing my mind debating whether or not to tell her that it was actually gold.

"Will you stop tinkering?" He demanded.

"Tinkering is how I think, and I have a lot on my mind. What would you have me do?" I demanded.

"Just sit here and watch the sunset?" He suggested.

"I'd relax more easily if I had a hot cup of tea and a roof to sleep under," I replied.

Sam grinned. I rolled my eyes.

"You know, you are _really_ quiet," Sam paused. "We've been traveling together all day and I still don't know anything about you! Where are you from? Where are you going?" He bowed dramatically, gesturing to himself.

"It isn't relevant," I said. "I'm just looking for work."

"If you were just looking for work, you would have stayed in Windfall," Sam informed me. "That inn might actually pass itself off as reputable now."

"All I did was fix a few things. Anyone could have done it," I sighed.

"Look, Copper. You're obviously clever, and you're more skilled than you pretend to be. Now for just a moment, will you stop fiddling!"

He slapped my hand and I glared at him.

"Just look out there, and tell me what you see!" He gestured in the direction of the horizon as if he were an actor himself, delivering a great soliloquy on stage.

There was nothing in front of us, save for a rice paddy, a few sparse trees, and the purple hills in the far distance. I could only guess that Sam was referring to the sunset. The sun itself was sitting on the horizon, its color a ruddy gold that looked like molten orichalcum. The clouds surrounding it were orange and crimson. High above us, the blanket of night was descending. Between the darkness and the light was a singularly perfect shade of blue. The view was absolutely radiant.

"The sun," I replied flatly. I didn't want to say more.

Every morning since I'd changed, I'd felt the sun rise. I knew when it reached its peak, and as the end of the day neared, the Essence that flowed through my body began to resonate. If I was indoors, I could feel the sunset approaching, and if I was outdoors where could see it, I felt compelled to stare. The light didn't hurt my eyes. It burned inside of my mind, directly behind the invisible mark on my brow. I was _supposed_ to look. There was something I needed to understand.  
"That's all?'" Sam frowned.

"What else is there? Rice?" I suggested.

"You don't _feel_ anything?'" He pressed.

I must have given Sam a wild-eyed glare, because he moved a few inches away from me. "What am I supposed to feel?" I demanded.

"Inspiration?" He suggested.

I considered that.  
"I suppose it does make me think of a diamond," I admitted.

"A diamond?" Sam grinned.

I sighed in defeat. "Well, I was once a jeweler. And each time I finished cutting a diamond, I would take it outside, hold it up to the sun, and try to decide where I could improve it. The cut of a diamond needs to be very precise, you understand? A masterful cut transforms a good stone into an extraordinary one."

"A diamond in the rough, eh?" Sam teased. "So if you were trained in such a lucrative profession, why are you homeless now?"

"I made some bad decisions. I'm trying to get back on my feet but it may take awhile. Until then I'll repair whatever needs fixing. It's all the same to me," I lied.

"Oh." Sam paused. I suspected that he knew I wasn't being honest with him. Truthfully, I did enjoy helping people, but there was no challenge for me in sorting out a stubborn doorknob.

"I can't believe I'm telling you all this!" I rolled my eyes. "It's worthless drivel!"

I turned back to Sam. In the half-light, his eyes looked even more yellow than they usually did, almost catlike with strange, very dark pupils that sparkled like the night sky. I'd seen eyes like his before, though I couldn't remember exactly where. What was it about Sam that made my usually clear head feel so muddled?

"How do you cut a diamond?" Sam pressed.

"Very carefully. With another diamond," I smiled slightly. "A rough diamond looks white when you see the whole of it, but as you begin to cut the imperfections away, all of the colors inside the stone come to the surface. It's a bit like right now." I gestured to the sunset, which had begun bleeding scarlet and orange. "We see that same light all day, and we don't think about it having color. But once it has that perfect cut..." I gestured to the horizon. "Well, it's impossible to ignore."

Godchaser heaved an enormous, melodramatic sigh. I glanced quickly at Sam, who didn't react, and then turned my attention back to the sunset, pretending I'd heard nothing myself.

I didn't have the heart to scold Godchaser for expressing how content she was. She had a habit of sighing like a pining lover every time I said something that she liked. And while she enjoyed hearing that she was beautiful and brilliant, what she loved above all else was when I rambled like a madman about all of the ideas that I had. If I went on for hours discussing the pros and cons of different alloys, theorizing about Essence propulsion, or postulating wildly on the possibility of artificial flight Godchaser hung on my every word. But I questioned for a moment the nature of my own existence, she only cursed me for being "horrible" and began to sulk.

I'd gotten used to Godchaser laughing, voicing her opinions, teasing me, getting angry and of course, sulking when I upset her. If I'd been skeptical as to whether or not she was truly alive when I'd first awakened her, I'd become fully convinced that she was as much of a person as any human being I'd ever met. While I certainly didn't think of her as a mere "machine"... I still couldn't decide how I ought to feel about the fact that she was obviously in love with me.

I was also suspicious of Sam. There was something about him which reminded me of Himitsu, and I was beginning to suspect that he might _also_ be a Sidereal. Whatever _they_ were.

Godchaser was unusually quiet for most of the following day. Traveling with Sam, I thought it best to avoid talking to her, but the fact that she didn't even giggle when he referred to me twice as "Copper" left me feeling more than a little uncomfortable. While Sam was occupied with a rock that was causing his horse to limp, I took the opportunity to discreetly whisper to my _other_ companion.

"Godchaser?"

"Maker?" Her voice sounded strange, almost groggy.  
"You've been very quiet," I said.

"Have I?" She murmured. "Didn't you want me to be quiet?"  
"I did, but now I'm worried about you. How do you feel?" I asked.  
"Tired," she replied. "I need more Essence."  
"I suppose I could give you some right now," I admitted, making sure that I was not being watched. I hoped that Sam wouldn't sense what I was doing, and then scoffed at myself for being so paranoid. Really, I'd no proof that he was any kind of Exalt at all. No Dragonblood would lower himself to deal with mortals as Sam did, and I felt confident that no one carrying the same curse I did would willingly associate with a demon hunter like Mnemon Rai Jin.

Still, I couldn't shake the impression that Sam was more than he seemed to be. The idea of Sidereals secretly manipulating the world remained firmly fixed in my mind, and I believed they were watching me. Since Windfall, I'd felt as though I were being stalked, particularly at night. I thought of Himitsu incessantly, and by Godchaser's own admission she had been designed to hunt Sidereals.

But since Godchaser couldn't explain _how_ she detected Sidereals, all I could do was suspect everyone who seemed unusually interested in me. "I've been meaning to ask you about Sam. Is he a Sidereal? He has very strange eyes and he says the damnedest things, but I haven't seen him do anything out of the ordinary," I whispered

"He hasn't seen you do anything " _out_ _of_ _the_ _ordinary_ " either," Godchaser reminded me.

"I see your point," I glanced over my shoulder. Sam was still cursing at his horse.

"He hasn't used any Essence, and I can only identify Essence that's being used," Godchaser informed me. "And speaking of Essence, I need more."

"I've given you as much as I can right now," I replied, brushing aside the fabric of my cloak to have a look at the imprints around her hearthstone. Sure enough, the little gauge that measured how much power she was holding was situated only four tally marks above empty. Her hearthstone flickered and then went dark for a moment.

"I still need more," she protested, her voice wavering again. "There's something wrong with your manse."

"Yes, I'm getting that impression. Without your hearthstone, how long can you operate?" I asked.

"Without your _heart_ , how long can you operate?" Godchaser retorted. She was obviously crabby, but given her condition I decided not to start an argument.

"Is there anything you can do to conserve Essence?" I pressed.

"I can sleep. But..." She hesitated.

"But what?" I wondered.

"There's something else wrong," she paused. "And if I sleep, I'm afraid I might not be able to wake up again."

"That's no good," I paused. "I'll have to take a look. Tonight, after Sam goes to bed. You'll need to hold on for a little while."

"Okay," Godchaser agreed. For someone who usually had such unshakable faith in me, she did not sound very enthusiastic. Whatever was wrong with her hearthstone and by extension the manse that she wanted to guide me to was obviously very serious indeed. Nexus, unfortunately, was still several months travel away. I only hoped I could sustain her long enough with my clumsy fumblings to make it there. As much as she annoyed me, I couldn't deny that she was also the only thing keeping me sane.

If I was still sane at all. I was beginning to wonder about that.

Sam and I made camp around sunset when the sky was still slightly purple. He fell asleep almost immediately after lying down. I pretended to be sleeping myself until just after full dark, at which point I took my tools and Godchaser all the way down to the river some five-hundred yards away.

Very carefully, I set Godchaser on a large rock and stripped away the fabric of my cloak, hoping that the problem would be something as simple and mundane as the piece of jade that had originally prevented her hearthstone from resting comfortably in its socket. When I removed her outer carapace, a horrible burning smell assaulted my nostrils.

A black, rust-like substance had begun creeping through the orichalcum. I didn't know what it was, but there was clearly something in the metal that needed a constant supply of Essence. Corrosion had obviously been very slow as Godchaser slept for centuries, but apparently her recent activity made the deterioration faster. With her hearthstone failing, I had no choice but to keep her filled with Essence until I could figure out how to stop whatever was killing her.

That would not be an easy task. Dark as it was, the night of a new moon and an overcast sky... I hadn't even considered lighting a lamp. I'd picked up one in Windfall but I'd forgotten to purchase kerosene. It was almost as if I'd known that I wouldn't be using it.

"See how this does," I told Godchaser, making a few little adjustments. As I had earlier, I gave her as much Essence as I dared. She glowed brilliantly as she had when I'd first resurrected her. The Essence made her look much more impressive than she usually did, which was something of a feat... and it obviously improved her mood.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. "Oh, much better! Thank you, Maker!"

"Good. I'm glad you've recovered. Because now I'm exhausted," I informed her, smiling slightly despite myself. I walked down to the water and splashed a little in my face, wiping my eyes on my sleeve.

Then I stared at my own reflection. It was difficult to believe that I'd been away from the Abbey of Mela for less than two weeks. I scarcely recognized myself. My hair was growing back very fast, and my beard was a mess, coming in outrageously uneven. With my glasses on, I looked nothing at all like an Immaculate monk. If anything, I was starting to look like one of the mountain barbarians. I'd have to shave or at least straighten out my facial hair before I started hunting for passage to Nexus. While sailors weren't known for being well-kept, a ship's carpenter was sometimes an officer and expected to adhere to a somewhat higher standard of behavior.

I knew nothing at all about sailing, and wondered if someone might call my bluff before giving me a berth. Then I scoffed at myself. The brand between my eyes was impossible to ignore. Considering the magnitude of what I was really hiding, why was I worried about passing for a sailor?

I immediately tried to extinguish the mark on my brow. It flickered for a moment in defiance of my efforts, and then went out. Strangely enough, suppressing it didn't actually make me feel better. If anything, the pure dark made me more nervous.

I felt once again as if I were being watched, and I'd no idea where my pursuers might be hiding. My gut instinct, mad as it seemed... was to burn _more_ Essence and make some light.

"It's dark," Godchaser observed, sounding somewhat confused. I could see her even if I couldn't see anything else, and so I gingerly made my way back in the direction of the rock where I'd left her sitting, trying to find all of my tools without actually being able to see them. With as much Essence as I'd surrendered to Godchaser, I was already on the verge of glowing involuntarily. I couldn't use any more.

I'd learned very quickly how it felt to reach my new limit, and did not make the mistake of trying to surpass it. As soon as I couldn't conceal the mark on my brow, I refused to push myself any further. Although I knew I'd only exhausted a fraction of the power I held, whatever I might accomplish was not worth the danger of being _obvious_.

"Ow!" I winced as I accidentally kicked my tool box. "Damnit!"

"Be careful!" Godchaser quipped.

"I am being careful, I just can't see!" I cursed.

"You'd be able to see just fine if you'd use your Caste Mark!" She retorted, very loudly.

"Godchaser! Not so loud!" I hissed.

She ignored me. "I don't know why I have to keep telling you these simple things, Maker!" Godchaser sighed. "Honestly, why are you stumbling around in the dark like a dummy? Are you still ashamed to be Exalted?" She demanded.

"Hello? Someone down there?" Sam wondered, at that moment clearing the top of the hill. His jaw dropped as he saw me.

I wasn't still glowing, thankfully. But Godchaser was.

"What is that?" He whispered in awe.

"Nothing," I replied.

"Nothing? You're unbelievable! It's an artifact, isn't it? Why is it glowing?" He wondered.

"I don't know," I lied.

"You don't know?" He snorted, noticing my tools still scattered all over the ground where I'd kicked them. "You've been carrying it all this time, haven't you? And there's something wrong with it so you're trying to fix it in secret where no one can see what you're up to. Because if anybody lays eyes on this thing, they're going to lose it."

"Would you believe me if I said that this is not what it looks like?" I asked.

"What does it look like?" Sam retorted.

"Ah..." I found that I could not answer his question.

"You're a lousy liar, Copper. And I already knew you were hiding something. This is not exactly what I was expecting, but..." He gestured to Godchaser. "Where did you get it?" He demanded.

"You won't believe me if I tell you," I replied.

"I'd believe you if you told me that _thing_ crashed down from Heaven inside of a giant peach!" He vowed. For the second time he emphasized the word "thing" as he pointed at Godchaser and her non-existent patience shattered.

"I'm not a "thing"!" Godchaser protested.

"It's alive!" Sam gasped, slipping on the wet grass and falling flat on his back.

Godchaser giggled.

"Stop it, Godchaser! I swear I'll dismantle you!" I threatened.

Godchaser fell silent.

" _Godchaser_?" Sam echoed incredulously. He stared in silence for a long time.

In fairness, her name did beg repeating.

I sighed. "She's the reason I didn't want you to travel with me, Sam. P _lease_ don't tell anyone about her! I didn't steal her, and she's not a weapon... but I am in a lot of trouble right now and I need her with me. Without Godchaser, I'd be dead already. I can't give her up!"

"Why not?" Sam wondered. "If somebody gave me something like that, I'd ditch it as fast as I could!"

"You only say that because you don't know her," I didn't say more, but the expression on my face must have made what I was thinking obvious.

" _That thing_ cannot be your friend! It's not even _human_!" Sam protested.

I didn't respond, although his words troubled me. Was I human myself? Perhaps a construct was the only friend an Anathema could have. Maybe that was why I'd built Godchaser in the first place.

That thought startled me.

I'd _built_ Godchaser? Of course, she had called me "Maker" from the very beginning, but I'd never been sure of her claims. I couldn't remember having a past life of any kind, let alone one in which I was Anathema. But when Sam had started shouting at me, he'd sparked something in my mind, a fragment of a memory.

 _I_ _was_ _putting_ _on_ _a_ _pair_ _of_ _very_ _unusual_ _gloves._ _There_ _was_ _a_ _smell_ _in_ _the_ _air_ _that_ _was_ _distinctly_ _familiar_ _to_ _me._ _The_ _room_ _I_ _was_ _in_ _was_ _maddeningly_ _hot,_ _and_ _in_ _front_ _of_ _me_ _loomed_ _an_ _enormous_ _furnace_ _that_ _glowed_ _like_ _a_ _meteor._ _With_ _my_ _hands_ _I_ _reached_ _into_ _the_ _furnace,_ _taking_ _out_ _a white stone mold_ _filled_ _with_ _liquid_ _orichalcum._  
 _Very_ _carefully,_ _I_ _reached_ _for_ _a_ _chain_ _I_ _wore_ _around_ _my_ _neck._ _Attached_ _to_ _it_ _was_ _a_ _small_ _vial_ _of_ _something_ _that_ _whirled_ _and_ _spun_ _with_ _a_ _thousand_ _different_ _colors._ _I_ _opened_ _it_ _and_ _held_ _my_ _breath_ _as_ _I_ _poured_ _its_ _contents_ _into_ _the_ _cooling_ _orichalcum._ _The_ _myriad_ _of_ _colors_ _bled_ _through_ _the_ _metal,_ _moving_ _like_ _stormclouds_ _and_ _turning_ _to_ _black. I plunged the mold into a basin filled with ice and waited as the water all flashed to steam. The basin was seared and fire-scarred as if a burning star had fallen into it._

 _The power I was working with was... significant, even by my standards._

 _I felt a touch of apprehension._

 _When I_ _was_ _convinced_ _that_ _enough_ _time_ _had_ _passed,_ _I_ _took a chisel and struck the stone twice, commanding it to destroy itself. The mold disintegrated in a burst of golden Essence, and Godchaser's mask fell into my hands._

I said nothing. I only stared at Godchaser, who blinked owlishly at me, as if she couldn't imagine what I was thinking. Actually remembering my past life, which Godchaser so often told me about, was deeply unsettling.

Finally, after a long moment's meditation, Sam sighed in defeat. "You're a good man, Recluse. No bastard could make up that bit you did last night about diamonds and the sun and all of that. I don't know who it is you're afraid of, but I won't tell a soul about this. Although you should definitely be more careful!"

Without another word, Sam walked away.

"Well, that didn't go so bad!" Godchaser chirped, breaking the silence between us. "I don't think he even knows you're a Solar!"

"Godchaser, do _not_ say that word!" I warned. "Sam might still be listening!" I sighed in defeat. "Look, I didn't want it to come to this, but there are some things that I am going to have to order you not to do anymore."

"Okay!" She agreed readily. "I'll make a list!"

"It'll be a short list," I paused. "First rule. You will be absolutely silent when I tell you to! No talking, no laughing, no sighing! Not a single noise, not even a whisper! No one can know that you're alive!"

"But..." Godchaser protested.

"No buts! These are rules, remember?" I paused. "Do you understand what a rule is?"

"I have to do what you say," Godchaser replied. "Even if I don't like it."

"Yes, you do. You had better start listening to me, or I am going to leave you behind," I said.

"If you leave me behind, I'll follow you!" Godchaser vowed.

"How? You can't teleport! You can barely hover!" I reminded her.

"You're horrible, reminding me of that," she remarked with distaste.

"You need reminding! Things aren't the way you think they are!" I informed her. "Now for the second rule. When we are talking, even when it seems like we're alone... there are things that you cannot say. It'll be bad enough if someone overhears you giggling, but certain words will mean a lot of trouble for us. For example "Caste Mark".

"That's two words," Godchaser corrected me.

"Treat it like one word. Don't say "Caste Mark", don't imply that I _have_ one, and _definitely_ don't ask me to "turn it on"! I ordered her.

"Okay, so I'm not going to say "Caste Mark". Why do you not like those words... _word_?" Godchaser demanded, correcting herself.

"It's not a matter of what I like or don't like!" I sighed in defeat. "Next word, _Solar_. Don't even whisper it! And don't say _Twilight_! People know that it means the same thing as _Unclean_ and..."

"It does not!" Godchaser was absolutely aghast. " _Unclean_ means you don't bathe! It means you do bad things, or have bugs on your skin! _Twilight_ is what _you_ are, Maker. Like a _diamond_!"

I bit my lip slightly. Was I never going to escape that idiotic monologue of mine? I'd been trying to explain something that was very literal from my perspective. Sam had somehow turned it into a metaphor for the whole of Creation, and Godchaser had taken it as a discourse on the saintliness of Anathema! "Godchaser, to normal people it means the same thing! That's what I've been trying to explain to you. If what I am is as great as you think it is... why is everyone in Creation trying to kill me? And you can't say they're all stupid because that isn't true!" I finished.

"But Maker!" She protested.

"No, don't call me "Maker"! If Sam tells anyone about you, I'm going to have to pretend that I stole you or found you somewhere! I _can't_ be your Maker, Godchaser," I sighed heavily. It felt very strange saying those words... especially since I'd protested that I was _not_ Godchaser's "Maker" more times than I could count. But after what I'd just remembered, I couldn't bring myself to deny it.

Over the past several weeks I'd questioned all of my beliefs. I still had trouble accepting that I had _always_ been Anathema. But what if Godchaser was right? What if every life I'd ever lived had turned out the same way? Had there _always_ been a demon buried deep in my soul, waiting to be released?

"I'm not going to use that A-word. I don't like it at all!" She protested.

"I didn't say you had to use it. I don't like it either. And you'd better not say it, because that will get us in trouble too," I sighed.

"But I've always called you Maker!" Godchaser protested. "That's what you are to me!"

I realized belatedly that trying to stop Godchaser from using that word was something akin to forbidding a child to say "mother".

"All right, you can call me "Maker". "But quietly, and you're still not allowed to say any of those other words! Now will you stop shouting and making a scene? How are you working? Are you still losing Essence? Are you okay now?" I asked.

"Yes, _fine_ , yes, and no," Godchaser replied, answering each of my questions as succinctly as she possibly could.

"Are you not okay because you're broken?" I pressed.

"I'm not okay because _you're_ broken," she retorted.

It was the last thing she would say for a long while.


	10. Chapter 9 - The Wandering Monk (Veritas)

**Chapter** **9**

 **The Wandering Monk**

When I finally succeeded in gathering up my tools, I returned to our campsite only to discover that Sam was gone. I had to believe he'd betrayed his promise and knew that I was a demon. Still, I was dead tired. I made it a few miles, and sewed Godchaser back inside of my cloak, conceding to use the mark on my brow for light.

I found a place off the road which seemed safe, and slept surprisingly well.

The first thing I saw when I woke was a pair of young soldiers dressed in the colors of the Ravenous Winds. My heart skipped a beat, and I stared up at them in horror. My first thought was that they were about to kill me.

"You all right?' The first soldier wondered. She was short and squarely built with sandy blond hair and a nose that would have been oversized and unattractive even on a boy. Her weapon of choice appeared to be a very fine northern war ax, as meticulously maintained as the blue lamellar armor she wore. A single shiny silver pin was fastened to the stark white collar of her gambeson. She was just barely an officer, and obviously very proud of her station.

"We almost didn't see you in that bush. We thought someone might have beat you up and left you for dead," the young man beside her added. He had the look of an Earth Aspect Dragonblood, and he was also an officer, just slightly outranking his companion. He carried a pair of swords that I did not doubt were family heirlooms. A Dragonblood outranking a mortal was to be expected... although he did stand slightly behind the girl, as if he were inclined to let her have her own way.  
"Oh no, I'm fine. I was just sleeping. You startled me, that's all," I lied.

Clearly, they didn't know who I was... which meant that they hadn't been sent by Sam. I could only hope that he hadn't told anyone what he'd witnessed yet.

"Well, I'm Fanglord Natsume Cheng and this is my first officer, Wara Isha," The Dragonblood gestured to his companion. "We serve Mnemon Rai Jin."

"He calls us "Hack" an' "Slash". I'm "Hack". Cheng's "Slash"," Isha explained. "I suppose you've seen a lot of us Winds on the road these past few days, eh?"

"A few," I admitted.

"Well, you ought to see a lot more. We've all been called up!" Isha proclaimed.

"I suppose there must be something big going on," I observed, saying nothing.

"Is there ever!" Isha laughed. "Y'see, Cathak Lo..."

"Isha, that's enough!" Cheng scolded, cutting her off. "You can't tell everyone we meet about our orders!"

"It's really none of my business," I paused, trying to disentangle myself from our conversation. "Thank you for making sure I wasn't hurt. But I should really start walking." I admitted. I did notice that Isha had very nearly told me about the same officer that Sam had also sung the praises of, Cathak Loren. Whoever he was, his contingent of loyal followers that very nearly bordered on a cult.  
I picked up my things.  
"Are you going to Chio?" Isha pressed. "We're going to Chio."

I didn't have time to work out a lie. Cheng observed the expression on my face effortlessly. He laughed. "We're not trying to give you trouble. It's just that you obviously don't belong out here. What's your trade?" He gestured to my toolbox.  
"I'm just a tinker," I replied. "And while I appreciate your concern, I don't need your help."

"It isn't safe to travel alone," Isha observed. "Not on these roads. We may still be on the Blessed Isle, but we're really out in the sticks. Snow Owls, Smoke Clan, bandit monks... you name it. You ought to come with us before someone really does rob and kill you. You can ride on the back of our supply wagons!" She volunteered.

"I can't impose," I protested.  
"It's not an imposition," Cheng replied. "Us Winds don't like to leave a trail of dead travelers in our wake while we're marching. Old Thunderstormer won't stand for it."

It was obvious that whatever I might have said fell upon deaf ears, and before I could change my destination, I was back on the road accompanied by Isha and Cheng as well as a twenty other young soldiers, all members of Cheng's Fang.

They said nothing all day about any Anathema, and an awful lot about Cathak Loren, whom I gathered was Isha's favorite person outside of Cheng. I wasn't able to sort out what sort of relationship the young Fanglord and his first officer actually had until after dark.

The Winds insisted that I camp with them for safety, even going so far as to make space for me in one of their tents. I found out very quickly that I was not liable to get any sleep, however... not with all of the noise that my rescuers were making nearby. I waited until all of the camp was asleep, with the exception of one drowsy sentry, and then decided to make a break for it.

Fleeing along the road would only get me caught again, so I made my way out into the rice fields that ran along the river. After about two hours of walking, I suspected that my escape had succeeded.

"I don't know if I can keep up with this outrageous amount of running. And who knew that the Blessed Isle was so damned big?" I sighed heavily. "At this rate I'll be in the best shape of my life by the time we get to Nexus!"

There was no response. I immediately checked Godchaser's hearthstone. She seemed to be in working order, but she gave no sign that she heard me, despite the fact that no one else was present to overhear us.

That was when I remembered the last conversation that we'd had.

"Godchaser, I'm sorry," I paused, waiting for her to respond. She had definitely heard me, but she seemed to hesitate.

"I'm sorry too," Godchaser sighed. "I don't want you to get hurt, Maker. But it makes me so sad that you think you're like they say. You're not a demon!" She protested.

"I wish I could believe that. But you don't know what the world is like now, Godchaser. You've been asleep for 1,500 years! Everything is different now," I told her.

"Not everything! You're still..." She didn't finish her sentence but I could guess what she''d been about to say. One of my forbidden words for certain.

I looked out over the rice paddies. Several of them were not faring as well as they should have been. Though I didn't know anything about farming, I suspected there was something wrong with the irrigation system. Sure enough, the water level was much lower in the paddies that were starting to turn brown.

"These rice paddies are drying out. They're not getting water for some reason," I mused. I'd meant to talk more with Godchaser, but the condition of the rice paddies was distracting. "There must be a problem somewhere around here."

"So find it and fix it!" Godchaser sighed. She seemed pleased that I'd changed the subject, and I got the impression that she didn't have the energy for a difficult conversation.

"It's too dark, I can't see anything," I replied.

"Then fix the dark!" Godchaser sighed.

"Fix the dark?" I smiled slightly. "Godchaser, how do I "fix" the dark?"

"Ugh! Maker, I can't say what I want to say, because the words I need are on your stupid list!"

"Excuse me?" I demanded, smiling slightly despite myself.

"Stupid list!" Godchaser repeated.

"Well, I'll take a quick look," I paused, feeling around in my pockets to see if I was still carrying anything potentially useful. I had a file handy, which meant that I wouldn't have to dig through my currently disastrous toolbox... or risk losing anything in the rice paddy.

Ignoring Godchaser's cheerful humming, I removed a few of the boards beneath our feet with my file and peered into the irrigation ditch... using my mark to "fix the dark" just long enough to pinpoint the source of the problem. It took me only a few moments to remove the moldly old rice sack that had been blocking the flow of the water. I closed everything back up as if I'd never touched it at all and the water began to run again.

That was when I discovered that I had an audience. I heard a cough behind me.

I turned slowly and at first didn't see anyone... but then my eyes came to rest on a tiny little farmer with an inordinately large, potato-shaped head carrying a bag of rice twice the size of his body.

His eyes reflected the light of the moon and looked a bit like a pair of undercooked eggs. I knew what he was instantly, although I'd never actually seen a little god up close before.

It was no secret that there were many thousands of gods in Creation, but precious few of them were ever seen on the Blessed Isle. In an attempt to root out dangerous peasant cults that ran the gambit from dancing for rain spirits to making blood sacrifices for demons and fair folk, the Immaculate Order enforced a state of religious uniformity called the Perfected Hierarchy. In the Hierarchy the Immaculate Dragons occupied the supreme position, and all of the little gods were below them, each one accorded a certain feast day but prevented from gaining too much power.

Little Gods were capricious, and it was dangerous to let them believe that they deserved too much. I was suddenly very glad for the snippets of Old Realm that I'd learned from Godchaser, because the God of the Rice Paddy seemed very intent on speaking to me. He was obviously convinced that I could understand his Old Realm, and I felt embarrassed that I didn't.

"Godchaser, what is he saying?" I asked.

"I can't tell you!" She protested.

"Oh, I know you can! He's speaking Old Realm! Tell me what he's he saying!"

"No, I can't tell you! Because of your stupid list!" She argued.

"Forget my list! I've never met a God before! I want to know what he's saying! Tell him to start at the beginning, and go slower!" I ordered.

As Godchaser translated my words, I committed what she had said to memory. Now that I had seen firsthand that Old Realm truly was the language of the Gods, I was much more eager to learn it. And of course, the first thing any student of a language learns is how to say " _I'm_ _sorry,_ _can_ _you_ _repeat_ _that_?" and " _Would_ _you_ _please_ _slow_ _down_?"

Godchaser sighed. "All right, this is what he says. But you're not going to like it," she paused.

"His says his name is Mochi, and he is the God of the Rice Paddies on the South Bank of the Silver River. He greets you. Specifically he says " _Thank_ _you, great Lord_ _of_ _Creation._ " Then he says that he knew a Twilight Caste had been reborn not far from here, but he did not expect a mighty Solar such as yourself to take such interest in his humble fields. He apologizes that he did not recognize you until he saw you illuminate your Caste Mark. If he had known you were coming, he would have greeted you earlier, and also summoned all of his friends. Also, he is sorry to see that you have mud on you, Sun-Chosen, because one such as yourself should not be covered in the humble dirt of his insignificant rice paddy. He thanks the Unconquered Sun, the greatest of the all gods, for sending you to aid him in his time of distress. He wishes for you to always have plenty of rice on your table. And..."

"And?" I pressed.  
"There are two more places where the water is not flowing. He'd be most honored if you would have a look at them," Godchaser finished.  
"He wants me to fix something?" I wondered.  
"That's pretty much the gist of it," Godchaser sighed. She sounded annoyed, but I was intrigued. As much as I didn't like hearing so many grandiose words of praise heaped upon me, I was too intrigued by the little god to simply return to bed.

"That's great! Tell him to show me where!" I replied.

I ended up working most of the night for the God of the Rice Paddy as he came up with project after project for me. I wondered what the poor farmers would think when they found my handwork and suspected that poor little Mochi would probably get a few more heartfelt prayers than usual. I caught a few hours sleep just before dawn, and awoke to discover two tiny rice cakes wrapped in white linen lying beside my tool chest. It was a small gesture in light of all the work I'd done, but considering the size of the god who had left them, I didn't think it was right to complain. In any case, they were the best breakfast I could have wished for.

Traveling along the river was slower than taking the road, but I saw fewer soldiers which was a tremendous relief. I was not stopped passing through the city gates of Chio. A cart carrying a heavy load of hay had lost a wheel in the middle of the street, and the city guards were also preoccupied with what looked like the aftermath of a tavern brawl. It was almost as if some unseen force had engineered a distraction to coincide with my arrival. The word "Sidereals" stuck in my mind, and I walked faster.

Though I desperately wanted a meal and a bed, I needed a new pair of shoes badly, and those would cost me money I didn't have. I laid my blanket next to a toothless old peddler selling glass baubles and set out the pieces I had made. It was very nice to finally sit down.

"Is that all you have?" The old peddler asked, eying the two pendants. Though they weren't perfect in my eyes, they were still quite elegant, especially considering that they had been made from poor quality coins. Then again, I _had_ shaped them using Essence. The silver didn't really look like silver anymore. It carried a beautiful, unusual luster that made me think of white gold.

"I'd like to make more," I admitted. "But I'll need money for supplies."

"You make those?" He blinked in surprise. "Do you make anything else?"

Godchaser giggled. Fortunately, the old peddler was nearly deaf and didn't seem to notice.

"No. Nothing... significant," I shrugged.

"Maker!" Godchaser gasped.

"Shut up!" I hissed.

"What'd you say?" The old peddler wondered.

I coughed twice and tucked my cloak behind me, sitting on Godchaser's mask. She yelped and cursed at me in Old Realm, but the blanket muffled her voice. I ignored her grumbling and sighed in relief as a bard with a flute threw out his cap and started playing nearby. He was not a very good musician, but he was loud, and that was a blessing.

"Well, if you don't sell em' today, I'll buy em' from you," the old peddler offered.

"Very kind of you," I replied, though I did not expect that he could offer me much.

"Hm. I haven't seen you around here before," a voice observed.

I looked up. Staring down at me was a noble lady, very well-dressed in a scarlet and gold kimono. Her long black hair had an unusual reddish sheen to it, and her eyes were yellow and catlike. I would have guessed her for a Fire-Aspect Dragonblood even if I hadn't noticed the jade ornaments in her hair. Two men walked several paces behind her. They looked like bodyguards.

The lady examined my pendants with a critical eye. I studied the very fine bracelet around her wrist myself. She obviously had an eye for quality. She hadn't even glanced at the gaudy trinkets the old peddler next to me was selling.

"My lady," I bowed respectfully. It was very difficult for me to keep my composure. I didn't have any reason to suspect that she was hunting for me, but the mere fact that she was a Dragonblood made it seem possible.

"Is this your work?" She asked.

"Yes," I replied. Belatedly, I realized that I probably should have lied about that. Most street peddlers sold things that other people made.

"Why don't you have a shop?" She pressed.

"I like to travel," I lied.

She surveyed my appearance and snorted. "Well, it would seem that travel does not favor you. You look like you've been run through a clothes wringer. And you smell like a dung heap."

"If I sell my pieces, I hope to have a hot bath tonight," I replied.

She seemed amused by my response.

"The one on the left. How much?" The lady pointed.

"You are obviously a connoisseur. I'll sell it for whatever you think is fair," I replied. I might have named a price, but the lady didn't seem like the sort who wanted to haggle. I suspected that she actually commissioned most of her clothing and jewelry, sparing no expense. I passed the pendant up for her examination. She took it from my hand, and held it up to the sun.

"It feels so warm," the lady observed, smiling slightly. "What is it made of?"

"Silver, my lady," I replied. "A single old coin."

"Well. A coin for a coin, then? Do you think that's fair?" She asked.

Taking a single coin from her purse, she deposited it in my hand.

I almost protested... but then I realized I was holding _jade_. The lady had paid me enough to buy a horse! My shock certainly registered on my face, and the old peddler sitting next to me spit wine all over his wares.

"You are much too generous," I said.

The lady smiled. It was not precisely a nice smile, but she _was_ a Dragonblood. She expected to be praised, and she evidently liked flaunting her wealth.

"How long will you be staying in Chio?" She asked.

"Not long. I'm only passing through," I admitted.

"Mm. But you'll be here tomorrow?"

It was not really a question.

"I don't have anything else to sell," I informed her.

"Then I suggest you make something," she replied.

As soon she was gone, the old peddler seized my cloak. I almost hit him, thinking he was trying to steal Godchaser, but then he grabbed the collar of my shirt and shook me furiously.

"Do you know who that was?" He hissed. "That was Ragara Sephora!"

Ragara was a Dynast's surname. I'd already guessed that the lady was rich and powerful, but it was nice to have my suspicions confirmed.

"You'd better not disappoint her," the old peddler warned. "She's a dangerous woman."

"I'm not a fool. I don't start fights with Dragonbloods," I replied, prying his hands off of me.

I picked up my second pendant, folded up my blanket, and donned my cloak. It seemed like a good time to make myself scarce.

" _You_ don't start fights with Dragonbloods?" Godchaser snickered.

"Never _intentionally_ ," I replied. "It's not my fault that they don't like me breathing." I rubbed the jade coin between my fingers. It had been more than five years since I'd last been paid in jade, and the feeling was immensely satisfying, even if it did come with strings attached. I mentally congratulated myself for outwitting Cathak Chiron and escaping the entire Abbey of Mela, the Snow Owls, and whoever else had been assembled to bring back my branded head on a pike.

While I still wasn't entirely reconciled with the idea of being Anathema, I'd had a remarkable success in orchestrating my escape so far. Perhaps I would make it to Nexus after all. And in a far-off city, I could easily start a new life for myself.

After breaking my jade into smaller coins and finding myself a decent pair of shoes, I picked out a tavern near the waterfront. It was the only one that didn't look especially dangerous or extremely expensive. I was just about to walk through the doors and inquire about a room and a bath when I heard the sound of a horse trotting up behind me.

"Hey, Copper! Copper Spider!" Sam shouted.

The moment I heard him speak that sobriquet, my rosy little vision of the future was shattered irreparably. He'd called me "Copper" from the time of our first meeting, but had not been in the habit of adding "Spider". I felt like I'd been called out.

"Yay!" Godchaser exclaimed, obviously overjoyed to hear that sobriquet. A sailor eyed me suspiciously, but no one else seemed to notice my cloak cheering.

I turned around slowly. Sam dismounted from his horse. The other two young soldiers that I had met, Cheng and Isha, were right behind him. They all seemed surprised to see me, and Cheng looked nervous. Sam was obviously bubbling over about something, and I gathered from the expression on his face that he was about to tell me what. I hadn't seen my suspicious traveling companion since the night he'd discovered Godchaser, and I frankly hadn't expected to see him again at all. "You came from the north, right?" Sam asked eagerly. It was as if nothing had changed between us.

"North-ish," I replied, saying nothing.

"Did you hear about the Anathema?" He asked.

"Anathema?" As apprehensive as I was becoming, I hoped I still sounded surprised and not nervous.

"Oh, everybody is talking about it!" Isha said. "And we're going to hunt it down!"

"If I were you, I wouldn't be so eager to face a demon," I reprimanded her.  
"Well, we'll be promoted if we can kill it," Isha added.

I twitched slightly. I didn't want to react badly, but I really didn't like what I'd heard so far. What kind of madman told _children_ to go slay demons?

"And if you can't kill it?" I demanded.

"We can! Our Winglord has destroyed more Anathema than anyone alive," Cheng informed me, as if that was something I didn't know.

"All right, that's true. But aren't you afraid?" I pressed.

"Terrified!" Isha laughed. "It's a legendary monster!"

I'd been Anathema for only two weeks, and already I was legendary?

I held my tongue.

"They say it's one of the Unclean," Sam whispered. "Back during the war, Dragonlord Chiron found its lair. He took all its treasure, and he blew up half a mountain so that nobody else could ever get in. But now the Anathema has come back from the dead!" Sam explained.

"For revenge!" Isha added.

"Ridiculous! Nothing comes back from the dead!" I protested. "Well, ghosts and _undead_. But not Anathema!"

Sam's story was nothing like what Dragonlord Chiron had told me. Of course, I'd suspected that the Dragonlord was lying from the very beginning. I gritted my teeth.

 _Those barbarians! They'd destroyed my manse!_

I hadn't felt so angry in a very long time, not since I'd been locked in a cell awaiting my mockery of a trial.

"Maker?" Godchaser whispered, almost inaudibly.

Cheng gave me a worried look. Sam and Isha didn't notice my reaction. They were still trading rumors.

"The Anathema is completely unstoppable! It can fly!"

"It incinerates anything it looks at!"

The two obviously loved the sound of a good fight. I felt certain that Isha's enthusiasm would land her on the front lines of some horrible battle sooner or later. I was no expert on military matters, but I'd heard something from Abbot Manu once that had stuck with me. There was no such thing as a zealous _old_ soldier.

"You don't really believe that kind of nonsense do you?" I demanded. From the sound of things, my story was already too big for me to stop. The least I could do was discourage the Winds from spreading it further.

"Believe it? My cousin is a monk! He saw it!" Sam protested. "He saw that Anathema fly out a window, and cast a spell in midair! It's so powerful that it was able go _inside_ of an Immaculate monastery! Although my brother did say something about it being _on_ _fire_ after it blew the whole roof off the Abbey of Mela! He also said it has a _spider_ for a head!"

Godchaser laughed, and I forced myself to laugh louder, hoping no one had heard her.

I felt marginally better knowing that half of the Realm's soldiers were looking for a demon with a spider for a head. Perhaps I was safer than I thought, particularly since Godchaser was disguised as a simple gray cloak.

Not for the first time, I wondered why Sam wasn't more suspicious of me. Of course, I was already in plenty of trouble with the Ravenous Winds, the Abbey of Mela, and Dragonlord Chiron on my trail. I thought about what the old peddler had said regarding Ragara Sephora. The last thing I needed was another angry Dragonblood to deal with, particularly when I was so close to escaping the Blessed Isle.

"You think that's funny? Anathema are serious business!" Cheng protested. He was looking at his second officer, not at me.

Isha giggled. "I know, Cheng! I'm sorry, but I just can't imagine someone with a spider for a head! It's too ridiculous!"

Sam laughed. "Hey, tinker! My cousin is waiting on us right now. He's not a very good monk and he likes to get drunk when he comes to town. You should come hear his whole story from the beginning!" He jerked his thumb at the doors of the tavern I'd been about to walk into.

"While I appreciate the offer, I'm actually on my way to meet someone," I lied. I certainly didn't want to cross paths with anyone from the Abbey of Mela. Even a junior monk would recognize me immediately. "Good luck with your mission. Stay safe!" I added.

Though I should have considered the three young soldiers to be my enemies, they were so blissfully oblivious that I almost envied them. Since my trial, I'd had a difficult time believing in basic human decency... and my current predicament had left me convinced that Heaven was also cruel.

"Take care!" Sam was grinning from ear to ear, as pleased to meet me as he had been upon our first encounter, as if he remembered nothing of what he'd seen only two nights ago. Not for the first time, I found myself hypnotized by his peculiar yellow eyes. He slapped me on the back, missing one of Godchaser's tendrils by less than an inch and I winced, gritting my teeth. "I hope you find what you're looking for! And enjoy your journey!" He advised.

"I'll try," I promised, waving goodbye to Sam as Cheng shoved him roughly into the bar.

I kept walking until I'd nearly left Chio. While I still planned to earn my passage to Nexus by working on board a ship, I wanted a bath, a decent meal, and some more coin first. Ragara Sephora had given me a significant amount of money, but she'd also made it necessary for me to leave town very quickly. She was clearly not the kind of woman who took "no" for an answer, and if I continued to refuse her offer of employment, she would eventually find out _why._

If I used it sensibly, the jade she had given me would buy me a week, and if I traded my services for food and lodging, I could get myself enough silver to make a dozen pieces of jewelry. I stopped at the sorriest looking teahouse I could find, and immediately volunteered to work in exchange for something to eat.

The owner of the teahouse had me repair a stubborn window, and then a door prone to blowing open in the wind. Satisfied with my efforts, she fed me a substantial supper, and then sent me across the road to her neighbor's inn, recommending that I ask him for more work and a place to sleep.

Although dodging my would-be patroness and her retainers was not easy, doing repairs in various businesses kept me off of the street. I also had different accommodations every night, and whenever my employer did not already know my name, I used a new alias. Of course, I still slipped up quite a few times and introduced myself as "Recluse".

After I had been in Chio for several days, rumors were beginning to spread about a "tinkering spider" that Ragara Sephora was hunting for. I'd already purchased myself a change of clothes and all of the supplies I would need to for my voyage. I'd also arranged my passage to Nexus by selling my second coin pendant. The merchant I sold it to was on his way home to Gem, and he decided that I could repay him for his generosity with as many pendants as I was able to make during our voyage. Of course, I did not tell him that I'd crafted the piece he was so enamored with in less than an hour while riding in the back of a rickety wagon.

Godchaser had been remarkably quiet since our arrival in Chio, partly because her hearthstone was still failing. Whenever I worked somewhere without supervision, I would seize the opportunity to give her a little Essence, but she still spent most of her time dozing off. Sometimes I had to say her name several times before she would respond. Sustaining her with my own Essence was becoming very difficult.

In retrospect, I should have set out for Nexus sooner than I did, but I decided to take on one more job when I heard about an interesting challenge at an inn called _the Spitting Demon_.

"So you want to see the Demon?" The bartender laughed.

"I've heard it's some kind of artifact," I admitted.

"Could be. All I know is that it makes hot water, and it's probably old as the Shogunate. The damn thing's been making a racket and leaking like a sieve over fifty years," the bartender explained. He had a peculiar accent that made me suspect he might be from the West, and a glass eye that didn't focus on anything besides the ceiling. Everything about him seemed to suggest that he was a disreputable character, but I ignored my own instincts. He was still human, after all... and that was more than I could say for myself. "You can't fix it," he informed me. "And I won't pay you to try."

"But you'll let me try?" I pressed. I'd already heard what the offer was, but I still wanted to hear him confirm it.

"I'll let you try. And if by some miracle you _do_ tame the Demon..." the bartender pointed to a glass case mounted on the wall behind his counter. There was a golden wrench inside of it. "There's the prize."

"Is that gold?" I asked. It looked like gold, but it was difficult to tell through the dusty glass.

"Demon gold _,_ " he corrected.

 _Orichalcum._

I tossed my pack near the bar. "I'll take your wager, sir."

The bartender rolled his eyes and led me down to the basement. He gave me a lamp, and I nearly doused myself in kerosene as we sloshed through the puddles of stagnant water and stepped over broken, molding furniture. There were several rows of slimy old kegs set up on wooden supports a few feet above the floor. Evidently someone had thought to protect them from the flooding that "the Demon" caused, but I still wouldn't have felt comfortable drinking anything that came out of them. Though the inn was not very large, the cellar was fairly impressive, and a door on the opposite side of the room suggested that it was shared with a different building.

"What's in there?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Nothing," the bartender said, in a manner which convinced me that there was most definitely something behind that door. I wasn't going to pry. I stared at "the Demon" instead. It was an enormous boiler, at least a century old, and it looked like it belonged in a bathhouse.

It smelled like the bowels of Malfeas. I had the strangest feeling that I had, in fact, _smelled_ Malfeas before. The memory was rather fuzzy in my head, and mostly consisted of me standing on the railing of a flying ship and lobbing Old Realm insults at an angry, shapeless being the size of a continent. I rubbed my temples and grimaced.

"So what do you think?" The bartender asked.

"What is it doing?" I stared at the boiler. It was silent, and cold to the touch.

"Right now, it's not doing anything. I've never seen it quiet for this long before. Usually it just floods the room, and then heats right back up again and gets to hissing and howling."

"I see. Well, I suppose I should get to work then," I decided.

The bartender snorted. He didn't believe I could actually fix the boiler, and I wasn't surprised. I smiled slightly. It would be very funny when I won his wager.

"So where did you get that orichalcum wrench anyway?" I asked as he turned to walk away.

"As far as I know, it's been here as long as the Demon has," the bartender shrugged. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if that thing _was_ built by Anathema," he remarked. "It would explain why it stinks so bad."

I didn't respond, but I discreetly sniffed the sleeve of my own shirt. As far as I could tell, I didn't smell at all. I waited until the bartender went back upstairs, and closed the door behind him.

"Godchaser?" I whispered.

My companion did not respond. I sighed heavily, set her on a table, and knelt down in the water. It was cold and felt greasy. When I was finished with my work, I would have to take my new clothes to a laundress, but that was a small price to pay for a large piece of orichalcum. I could use it to replace some of Godchaser's damaged parts.

The lamp the bartender had left me was utterly useless, not that I cared. I could make my own light. Doing so had actually begun to feel very natural to me. The more often I illuminated the mark on my brow, the more difficult it became for me to think of it as an ugly scar cut by a demon. Godchaser referred to it as my "Caste Mark" and seemed to think it was like an extra eye that allowed me to see the world in a more complete way.

"The Demon" was severely cracked from top to bottom. The damage wasn't easy to see in the darkness of the basement, and it was hard to tell where exactly it was leaking when the whole room was filled with water. The whole monstrous thing would have to be drained before it could be fixed properly... at least by any mortal craftsman. Using a pair of pliers, I picked pieces of tar out of the crack. I always disliked mopping up other people's shoddy work, but I reminded myself of the prize.

When I had finished cleaning, I laid my right hand upon the boiler and concentrated. I'd already used _Crack-Mending Technique_ once before, but I was still not sure how it would feel to invoke it again. Feeding Godchaser raw Essence was very different than deliberately altering the shape of Creation.

Fine strands of golden Essence flowed from my fingertips as I worked my Charm, filling the cracks in the metal. The light faded from my repairs as I pulled my hand away, and the iron appeared seamless. No one would be able to tell what I had done unless they looked very closely, and even then, the quality of the repair would surely baffle them. In all likelihood, the section of the boiler that I had fixed would remain long after the rest of "the Demon" rusted into oblivion.

Though I'd grown to appreciate how useful the power I possessed was, the ease with which I accomplished preposterously difficult tasks still left me feeling very strange. Even when I'd been the darling of Dynastic social circles, I'd never noticed so many eyes upon me, watching everything I did in bewilderment and wonder. Lately, I was doing more work with Essence than I was actually doing with my hands... which meant that I wasn't really a "tinker" anymore. I wasn't a jeweler either.

Godchaser was right. I _was_ a sorcerer.

My goal accomplished, I sat down to meddle with Godchaser. The boiler didn't rumble to life right away, but I knew it would start working again soon. For the time being, I had to pretend I was still busy. Fortunately, I had plenty to do.

I worked for about twenty minutes until I felt satisfied with the modifications I was making. As the boiler filled up with water, I started to gather my tools and then realized that I'd actually left my pliers on the table near the boiler.

I instinctively uttered a few words I wasn't sure I knew, and swept my left hand in the direction of my toolbox. It opened without me touching it. The box, which had become a bit of a jumble, immediately sorted itself. My pliers leapt into my grasp.

I blinked in surprise. The Charm was called _Every Tool in its Place_ , and I knew it just as I had known _Crack Mending Technique_. I realized that I knew other Charms as well, hundreds of them... but my memory was so foggy that I couldn't speak the right words or perform the gestures correctly. It occurred to me that, like any martial art, one probably had to _practice_ Charms in order to perfect them. But in my case, I wasn't trying to master something new. I was trying to recall something I'd forgotten.

"Ooh!" Godchaser exclaimed as she woke up. "I detect Essence! Is someone using _Charms_?"

I laughed. If anyone had been close enough to hear us, I would have scolded Godchaser for talking, and for using words that were on "the list". Though I wasn't going to admit it, I'd begun to miss her incessant chattering. I'd also been repairing her as she slept, and I was eager to see if any of my efforts had been successful.

Finally, Godchaser noticed the work I'd done. Her eyes grew very wide.

"Maker! You're fixing me!"

"Well?" I prompted.

My companion slowly rose up from the table where I had set her. She flew erratically and seemed to be burning up an enormous amount of Essence... but she was moving under her own power.

"Hooray!" She exclaimed. "I can hover!"

I nodded, feeling a little smug. My skills were improving at an alarming rate. Obviously pleased with my efforts, Godchaser twirled in a circle. "Oh, if I had arms, I would hug you!"

"I'm not building you arms," I replied. She often asked me to build her hands, and though I toyed with the idea of designing something so wonderfully complex, I knew that I couldn't do such a thing without access to magical materials.

"I would hug you!" She repeated.

"Tempting, but _no_!" I heard a sniffling sound nearby, and for a moment I thought that Godchaser was making a nuisance of herself. "And don't cry, you ridiculous machine!"

"I'm _not_ crying!" Godchaser replied flatly.

That was when I heard it again, the sound of a faint, muffled sob. I put my ear on the wall and followed the sound to the locked door on the opposite site of the room. I pulled on the rusted lock, and remembered another Charm. Taking the lock in my hand, I closed my eyes and concentrated. It began to feel warm in my grasp, and then it pulled itself apart, every screw, gear, and plate separating out from the whole. For a moment the pieces hovered in the air like a three-dimensional diagram, suspended on a current of Essence.

 _Dismantle_.

My concentration broke, and all of the pieces fell to the ground. For a moment, I considered what other skills I might be able to pull from my previous incarnation's repertoire, but then I remembered that someone was in trouble. As I began to open the door to the mysterious room, Godchaser dove in front of me.

"I'll go first!" She said, swooping into the darkness.

"Godchaser!" I protested. I was already beginning to wish I hadn't fixed her hover function.

"Um... Maker. This is _bad_ ," Godchaser paused. She sounded very worried.

Steeling myself for whatever she had found, I followed her into the dark. The light that surrounded me burned the shadows away. Circling around a crumbling dirt wall, I saw Godchaser hovering in front of a large table. The room looked like a butcher's shop or mortuary, packed to the ceiling with old books, melted candles, and foul-smelling herbs. There were stains of blood on the walls.

"We need to get out of here. Now," Godchaser ordered.

"Wait! We both heard someone crying!" I argued.

"No," Godchaser protested. "Dragonbloods are coming. And if you're not going to fight them, we'd better run away."

"Fine, you go! I've got to find out what's going on here first!" I protested.

"Maker! I _can't_ go without you!" Godchaser argued. She swept over my back and clung to my neck, her mask hidden, but tucked into a position that would allowed her to peer right over my shoulder. "Everyone would see me hovering!"

That was when I found the source of the sound I'd heard. Underneath the central table was a box with a lock on it. I might have called it a coffin if it had been longer, but not even a small person could have been laid out straight inside of it. When I put my ear to the lid, I could hear breathing inside.

"Hello?" I whispered in Low Realm.

There was a muffled sob in response. It sounded like a girl.

"There's someone inside!" I gasped.

"So? Better them than us! We have to go!" Godchaser argued, as if she could say nothing else. "Now!"

"Stop saying that! We can't leave anyone like this, it's inhumane!" I argued. Once again, I closed my fist around the lock and ordered it to shatter, using my new Charm. Then I went back for my lamp. I almost couldn't stop my Caste Mark from flickering, but I didn't want the poor girl inside the box to see some predatory Anathema hovering over her. I couldn't imagine what she'd already been through.

I opened the lid of the box. Inside, almost completely naked and streaked with blood and grime was a very petite young girl, probably no more than fifteen years old. Her thin blond hair was matted and her pale skin was covered in fine, cruel scars. Someone had been torturing her for an unthinkably long time, long enough for her wounds to heal completely and then be opened again. She had a few fresh marks too, all made by that same ruthless knife. One of them looked badly infected.

Though she was bound hand and foot, she thrashed her neck like a wild horse when she saw me.

I put a finger to my lips. "Quiet!" I warned.

"Get me out of here!" She begged, the moment I cut the strip of cloth that she'd been gagged with. "Please!"

"I am getting you out of here," I replied, cutting the bonds on her wrists and ankles. "What's your name, girl?"

"Dove," She replied, nervously watching me as I worked.

"Well, you can call me Recluse. Like the spider. Can you stand up?"

She nodded and I helped her to her feet. Immediately, she tried to run for the door. I caught her as she stumbled and fell.

"No, no! Wait until you can feel your legs! And put this on!" I added, giving her my shirt. Dove was practically naked. Small and frail as she was, my shirt almost looked like a dress on her.

"Now where's your family?"

I immediately regretted asking that question. The expression on Dove's face was awful. What had her family done to her?

"Port Calin," she replied.

"Heh. I thought that was a Rivertongue accent you have. Well, you're a long way from home. I was born in Nexus myself," I paused. I switched to Rivertongue, knowing I was about to ask another question that the poor girl wouldn't want to answer. "Dove, how did you end up in this box? "

She said nothing.

"I need to know. If there are bad people coming..." I began.

"Recluse, there are horrible people coming! We need to go now! I don't care where! I don't have any family, I don't have anything at all! I'm a slave! My father sold me to pay his debts! The man who bought me wanted me for his bed and when his wife found out, she was so angry that she gave me to Ragara Sephora!"

I knew that name all too well.

"That's who put you in there?"

Dove nodded. "She pretends to be so wonderful, but she's a monster! She's going to sacrifice me! She's going to kill me tonight! We have to go now!" Dove tugged on my arm.

"Dragons, this is unbelievable!" A string of curse words escaped me, about half of them in Rivertongue and to my surprise, the rest in Old Realm.

"Maker! Now!" Godchaser hissed, speaking in Old Realm herself. Dove looked very confused, probably wondering where the voice was coming from and what strange language it was speaking.

"I..." I immediately picked up Godchaser and then stopped short, hearing the sound of footsteps on the stairs. There were people coming!

I offered Dove my hand. She didn't hesitate to take it, although she definitely stared at my "cloak".

"Your cloak is talking," she observed.

"I promise I'll explain later. Stay behind me!"

Hearing the creak of a nearby door, I shoved Dove in the direction of the boiler, covering her mouth with my hand as I crouched down beside her in the shadows. The two of us waited there like a pair of trapped rabbits. I only hoped we wouldn't be seen before we could make a break for the stairs.

Two very large men came into the room, followed very closely by a richly dressed woman I recognized immediately.

Ragara Sephora stared at the lamp that I'd left on her work table.

"Search the room!" She ordered. I cursed under my breath.

"The lamp!" Dove gasped.

"Oh, Maker! You should have just used your..." Godchaser began. She never actually said "Caste Mark". That was when Dove, unable to take the strain of waiting for a moment longer made the mistake of bolting for the door.

"Dove, no!" I shouted, leaping to my feet.

But it was too late. Dove shrieked and kicked as one of the bodyguards seized her and lifted her off the ground, his arms wrapped around her neck.

"What's this? How did you escape?" The Dragonblood demanded... and then caught sight of me. " _You_?"

I was surprised that she recognized me. It had only been a week since I'd sold her the pendant she was wearing around her neck, but I'd taken a bath and changed my clothes. After much deliberation, I'd decided to dress in a monkish fashion. It seemed like the one thing no Dragonblood would be expecting, and I wanted to be wearing something that would not interfere with my martial arts if I had to defend myself.

"I _was_ fixing the boiler," I explained. "That is, at least until I heard the sounds of someone being _tortured_ through the wall. What you've done here is reprehensible! You may think you're immune because you're Dragonblooded, but no one gets away with sacrificing people! I'm reporting you to the authorities!"

"Report _me_?" The sorceress laughed. Her tone convinced me immediately that I'd missed something very important. "To whom? Fool, I own this town!" She snarled. Fire blossomed up all around her.

Sephora must have expected that I would immediately drop to my knees and apologize for insulting her when she flared her anima. The glare she gave me would have been enough to make me beg for my life... if I hadn't seen what I'd already seen.

I didn't care if Sephora was the Scarlet Empress herself. That didn't give her the right to torture and murder anyone, not even a slave girl with no surname, sold by her own parents and apparently sharing her master's bed. I wouldn't fool myself into thinking that Dove was innocent of any wrongdoing... but nothing she could have done would have made her deserving of the fate that Sephora had planned for her.

"Now what do you have to say for yourself, you meddlesome tinker?" She demanded. "Well?"

"Let the girl go!" I replied. "Now."

"You presume to order me? How dare you!" Sephora tried to slap me.

I caught her wrist. As she pulled free of my grasp, she called up her anima again, searing the palm of my hand. I'd been kicked around by Dragonblooded at the monastery more than once, but I'd never actually been burned by a Fire Aspect's Essence before.

"Ow! That hurt!" I grimaced.

Sephora narrowed her eyes. She obviously didn't like the fact that I wasn't cowering before her. "On your knees, mortal... and I may leave you the use of your legs!" She ordered.

"No," I replied without hesitation.

"What?" She hissed.

"You heard me. No! I am _not_ going obey you, and you _can't_ make me!" Speaking those words felt wonderful, and I realized belatedly that I had just behaved _exactly_ like an Anathema, spitting on the Perfected Hierarchy and telling a Dynast to go to Malfeas.

I saw Sephora move, and I easily sidestepped her first attack. She countered with a sweeping Fire Dragon Style kick that I knew very well. Though I'd never been able to block the move before, a sufficient cushion of Essence kept it from actually hurting me. The fact that I was still relatively unscathed prompted the sorceress to redouble her efforts, and I continued to fend her off without striking her outright. The two bodyguards held Dove and stayed back, looking impressed with their mistress who was burning brighter and brighter. I was a little singed myself, but not about to back down.

Our fight worked its way out of the sorceress's room and we came to a momentary standstill in front of the Demon boiler, between two rows of wine casks.

"Last chance, mortal! Yield and live!" Sephora warned.

"I'm not going without the girl," I replied.

"This is _not_ a negotiation!" She snarled.

"That's what I've been trying to tell _you_!" I shot back. Even though Sephora was a Dragonblood, I realized that I could probably beat her if our fight wore on much longer, which was undoubtedly why she'd given me so many opportunities to surrender. But I did not have to cower before her or _anyone,_ not anymore!

Of course, I already knew that I held a distinct advantage over those who could not use Essence, but I hadn't expected to be faster and stronger than a Fire-Aspect. As I considered my next move, an all-too familiar feeling came over me. If I fueled any more Essence into my Snake Style, my mark was going to start burning whether I willed it to or not.

I grimaced. I wanted to beat Sephora fairly and berate her for what she'd done. I wanted her to learn what it felt like to be in an inferior position. Still, if I didn't end the fight as fast as I could, everyone would see that I was Anathema. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a solution.  
I threw a wild, sloppy roundhouse kick at Sephora's head, and as she swiftly dodged my incoming leg, I switched my target, landing a strong jumping back kick on the central support of the rack that held up the kegs. As the rack groaned and swayed, the kegs fell off one by one. Some broke on the floor and the rest rolled over the sorceress and her bodyguards. While they were distracted, I grabbed Dove and raced for the stairs.

"How did you do that?" Dove gasped.

"Mathematics!' I replied, seizing my toolbox.

As we barreled out into the bar, I saw my pack where I'd left it next to the counter. "Grab that bag!" I ordered, and weak as she was, Dove still managed to catch hold of it. "What's in here?" She demanded.

"Food and clothes. You're going to need both," I informed her.

"It's too heavy! We don't need anything! We're going to die! " She protested.

"We're not going to die!" I shouted back.

The bartender who'd given me the job to fix the boiler stared at the two of us in disbelief.

"Your boiler's fixed," I told him. "Thanks for the orichalcum!"

Despite the alarm I knew it would cause, I invoked my new Charm and seized the orichalcum wrench from its display. It leapt right into my toolbox, and the box closed like a turtle snapping up a fish. My Caste Mark started to flicker.

The bartender swore incoherently and stumbled, knocking over several bottles of liquor and a dozen empty mugs. The drunks sitting at the bar turned to one another, wondering if they'd really seen what they thought they had.

I followed Dove out onto the street.

Of course, that was when Sephora exploded out of the tavern's basement. Flames roared all around her and her wine-soaked, badly bruised bodyguards followed just a few steps behind, their bare swords glittering in the light of her anima.  
Dove managed to keep pace with me as I lead her towards the river. We couldn't run from the Dragonblood indefinitely, which meant that I needed a plan.

Preoccupied as I was with my own impending doom, I almost didn't notice Dove tugging on my sleeve. Much more forcefully, she grabbed hold of Godchaser who yelped in protest, and shoved the both of us into a blacksmith's shed. Seizing a piece of bent iron from the workbench, the girl quickly barred the door. I wasn't sure which one of us was actually breathing heavier.

"This isn't going to work!" Dove whispered fearfully, still staring back in the direction of Sephora and her lackies. "They're going to be here any second, and that bar won't stop them!"

She was right about that. It would take a divine act to get us out of the mess we were in... and if the gods or the Dragons weren't going to have mercy on us, then I had no choice. I'd have to produce a miracle myself.

"All right. Throw bricks, light a fire, something! Buy us time!" I ordered, taking off Godchaser. I opened my tool chest and took out my best pliers.

"Maker?" Godchaser wondered innocently. I didn't respond, tearing a hole in the fabric that concealed her chest plate. "What are you doing?"

I could hear a large crowd forming outside, following a safe distance behind Sephora and her men, who'd definitely found us. The bodyguards set to hacking at the door immediately. The Dragonblood was doing something else, something that looked _very_ familiar to me.

She was working sorcery!

"They're getting in!" Dove cried. As I'd asked her to, she was pitching bricks out the window with impressive strength for her tiny frame. The cursing I heard from Sephora's bodyguards suggested that her aim was also commendable.

I glanced briefly over my shoulder and grimaced, catching sight of the sorceress starting her spell. Fire whipped all around her. I had only one plan, and in order to accomplish it, I'd have to work fast. First, I opened Godchaser's hover circuit.

"Do something!" Dove cried as the blade of a sword tore partway through the door. "I'm running out of bricks!"

"I _am_ doing something!" I shot back. Taking a deep breath, I carefully lifted the tiny panel of strange silver metal that protected Godchaser's most sensitive system, the one which controlled her ability to teleport. It was a dizzying blur of little gears that moved and changed shape as I tried to catch hold of them. I took the gold wire I'd gotten from the actress and carefully wrapped in around one of the gears, making just enough of a knob so that the orichalcum wrench I'd stolen could connect her "teleport" and "hover" circuits. The gold would conduct enough that I could probably get Essence to jump between the two. I had no idea what kind of results that would get me, but I was willing to try anything. As I picked Godchaser up, a two foot section of fabric fell from her back, a piece I'd torn a little too zealously.

If I survived, I'd need to find myself another cloak.

Dove gasped. "What... what is that?"

I smiled slightly. Dove's first reaction to seeing Godchaser was not any different than Sam's or my own had been. She was certainly impressive.

"Ready to fly, dear?" I asked.

"Ooh!" Godchaser exclaimed, suddenly noticing what I had done. "That's new!"

"Do you think it will work?" I asked.

"I'm going to need _lots_ of Essence!" Godchaser said.

"Take as much as you need," I replied. I took a deep breath and started pouring as much Essence into Godchaser as I could. Her usually dormant tendrils came alive like a dozen angry snakes, making my cloak appear to billow around me.

Dove stared up at me. My mark wasn't just visible... my whole body was burning like a torch, but she still didn't seem to know what to make of me. I decided not to give her the opportunity to sort things out. I grabbed her arm and pulled her close so that she was somewhat protected by the folds of my cloak.

"Trust me," I whispered.

"What _are_ you?" She whispered fearfully.

"Right now? A big damn hero!" I replied.

I shielded Dove's head. For a moment, all the Essence I had didn't seem to be enough, but just as Sephora's men tore the door down, we shot up through the roof of the shed and into the sky.

The force of our take off was terrifying, and I'd severely underestimated how high and far my temporary linking of Godchaser's "teleport" and "hover" would send us flying. To make matters worse, Dove was screaming her lungs out in terror the entire time, and Godchaser was cheering like a lunatic.

" _Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee_!" She cried, as we reached the high point in our trajectory and started falling at a speed I knew I couldn't hope to control.

As best as I was able, I tried to control our landing so that most of the force would be split between Godchaser and myself. I saw a large hay pile, and aimed for it as well as I could, wrapping my arms tighter around Dove and straightening out my body. The impact hurt, but after my head stopped spinning, I realized that I wasn't injured at all. I should have been, but I'd intuitively used my own Essence to shield myself before I hit the ground.

Both Godchaser and Dove landed on top of me, along with my pack and my toolbox. As I caught my breath, I sat up slowly and realized in shock that I recognized where we were. We'd landed in Windfall, the same small village where I'd met Sam!

We'd flown more than sixty miles in a matter of minutes! That was faster than being shot out from a cannon! Or... had we actually teleported? I wasn't sure.

Dove didn't say anything at first. She only clung to my pack and stared at me as if she expected I would suddenly turn on her like a rabid dog. And she wasn't the only one.

Though it was after dark, more than a few villagers had witnessed our dramatic fall from the heavens. They hid when I turned in their direction. Not that I blamed them. Since my escape from the monastery, I hadn't done anything so undeniably Anathema-like.

A golden flare of Essence was damning in its own right, but I'd discovered that the more Essence I burned, the more color poured out from me. After fueling Godchaser with everything she needed to attempt her maiden flight, I looked like an exploding fireworks factory. When I looked up, I realized that there was literally a _pillar_ of light surrounding me more than a hundred feet high that blazed with red, orange, blue, and gold. I felt tired and strained as I'd expected, but at the same time, I also felt the strangest sense of rightness.

I was _meant_ to be seen. I was _supposed_ to be recognized for what I was. Dark as it was, it looked as though someone had cut a hole in the night sky and poured the sun directly through it. Tendrils of radiant Essence all around me shifted and assumed familiar shapes which reminded me of the inner workings of a clock or very sophisticated artifact. I touched one gold spark that looked like a small gear and it set to spinning as if it were a solid thing. It was definitely my Essence, and yet I could make it behave like a physical object!

I immediately thought of tools. What if I could simply make them out of Essence when I needed them? It was an inspired idea! I almost attempted it right away. That's when I remembered where I was standing, in front of a dozen nervous peasants, the twitchy innkeeper whose business I'd saved weeks ago... and of course, Dove.

She obviously didn't know what to do. I decided to give her a suggestion.

"Do you see that road?" I pointed into the mountains. "If you follow that road north almost all the way into Snow Owl territory you'll reach a little village. The headman there is called Sun Yu. He and his wife are poor folks, but they're good people." Dove didn't pull away from me, but she did squint. I released belatedly that the light around me was so bright that it hurt her eyes, and so I took a few steps back, not that it was liable to do any good. "If Yu asks who sent you to him, you can tell him it was Recluse. That's the alias he knows me by. But _don't_... _please_ , _don't_ tell him that I'm Anathema."

I turned to walk away.

"Wait!" Dove called out. "Recluse!" When I looked at her, she covered her eyes and turned her face away from me. I guessed that from her perspective I looked even brighter than I did to myself. "What's your real name?" She asked.

"Veritas Ilumio," I replied, not having the heart to lie to her.

"Truth Illuminates?" Dove blinked in surprise, translating my name literally from Rivertongue into Low Realm. "You're the one they're looking for?"

"And they're _definitely_ going to find me if I don't get out of here _now,_ " I sighed heavily.

"Did you really used to be an Immaculate monk?" Dove wondered.

" _Yes,_ " I sighed heavily and gestured to my head. "As you can see, I'm still recovering from the haircut."

"But you're Anathema!" She protested.

"I wasn't always. It's nothing like they say! I wasn't spawned out of Malfeas! I didn't make a deal with any yozi! It just _happened_ to me, and I don't even know why! I'm just an ordinary man."

"I find that hard to believe," Dove smiled slightly. "You were flying a minute ago!"

"It was fun!" Godchaser giggled.

"And now your cloak is talking again," she observed.

"She never shuts up. Look, go on, you don't have to believe me! Just get out of here! It's only a matter of time before Ragara Sephora figures out where we went! And she's a sorceress, so she'll be here a lot quicker than the Wyld Hunt!" I warned her.

Still, Dove hesitated. "But I don't understand! Why did you rescue me? If you'd done nothing at all, they would have never known that you were..."

"Anathema?" I supplied.

Dove bit her lip. She hadn't wanted to say the word, that much was obvious.

"Dove, I don't want to die, but I'm not stupid enough to think that I don't deserve to. I have a terrible temper, and I've made a lot of poor decisions in my life. I rescued you because it was the right thing to do," I finished.

Witnessing my conversation with Dove, some of the locals of Windfall were getting up the courage to step out of their houses. More than a few of them had weapons in their hands. It didn't look like they were coming after me for sure... more like they were just being careful and wanting to better understand what was going on.

"The right thing to do?" Dove echoed.

"I'm a demon, aren't I? I need all of the redemption I can get," I replied.

Dove wrapped herself tightly in the blanket I had given her and started trudging up the road. If she kept going for two more days, she'd be in Sun Yu's village, probably safe. I could only assume that Ragara Sephora had intended to sacrifice her in order to summon a demon... and would soon give up the chase and get herself another slave.

That thought troubled me. If I was a demon, as everything I'd ever believed told me I was... why did the thought of what the sorceress had planned make me so furious? And not only furious... but also sick to my stomach?

Had I made a mistake in running away from my own reckoning? Had I saved Dove now only to cause the death of another innocent girl like her when I became a monster? I stopped short. I'd been repeating those words over and over and over again as I considered the future and hadn't even considered how illogical they sounded.

 _What_ _would_ _I_ _do_ _when_ _I_ _became_ _a_ _monster?_

I was already a monster! From an Immaculate Perspective, I'd been damned the first time I'd defied the Perfected Hierarchy and refused to accept my natural place within it. All of the suffering I'd endured was of my own making. The Dragonblooded were the rightful Princes of the Earth. They were Chosen, to protect and guide those less fortunate so that everyone might one day reach Enlightenment.

But if that was true... then why was it that everywhere I looked, I found Dragonbloods involved in more despicable business?

Political backstabbing. Wars! Human sacrifice!

I considered something that Godchaser had said, a strange little quip that had stuck in my mind.

 _People_ _were_ _broken._

But how could broken people be "fixed" when it was the world that they lived in which made them the way that they were? The whole of society would have to be torn down and rebuilt! And even as powerful as I was becoming, I still wasn't capable of simply swooping in like an Immaculate Dragon and fixing everything wrong with Creation!

 _Or... was_ _I?_

The combination of fear and awe in the eyes of Windfall's villagers as I slowly passed through their town left me feeling more conflicted than ever before. I turned to the sign at the crossroads and considered it for a moment. It was obvious there was no way I'd survive going back to Chio. That left me only one choice.

I'd have to find passage in the Imperial City.


	11. Chapter 10 - Fair Play (Veritas)

**Chapter 10**

 **Fair** **Play**

I walked most of the night, and when the sun rose I went to hide in the forest so that the soldiers scouring the roads wouldn't catch sight of me. Since Dove had all of my supplies and my hard-earned money, traveling was as unpleasant as it had been when I'd first come down from the mountains.

After two days with very little sleep and nothing in my stomach but some foul-smelling deer berries, I worked up the resolve that I needed to return to the road where I might barter for a good meal and a warm blanket. The Imperial City was still miles away, much further than the distance between the lands of the Snow Owls and Chio. If I managed to find a ship in the tiny river port of Uzun, I could make it in seven or eight days. If I had to continue on foot the entire way, it would likely take me two weeks or even longer. Considering what had happened in Chio, I was certain that Ragara Sephora had raised the alarm and was currently assembling her own Wyld Hunt.

The list of those coming to kill me was growing by the day and yet, somehow, I wasn't afraid. I didn't doubt the resolve of Dragonlord Chiron, the Ravenous Winds, or the Abbey of Mela... but something told me that I _would_ make to Nexus, even if I had to fly my way across the ocean.

Of course, Godchaser would not be flying again any time soon. Her hearthstone was still failing, and it took me several days to regain the Essence I'd burned escaping from Chio. Apart from walking and repairing my companion, I spent much of my time in meditation, trying to conserve my energy with as little food as I was eating.

I continued on towards Uzun, occasionally stopping to chat with travelers along the road. I heard a lot about the "Anathema" and his supposed exploits, each story more ludicrous than the last.

I gave Godchaser as much Essence as I dared each evening after sunset, and used none at all throughout the day. Dove had all of my money, and Godchaser's flight had incinerated my piece of gold. I found a copper coin in the dust and started turning it into a pendant as I walked. I'd need to have something for trade sooner or later, and one good piece of jewelry could buy me a week's worth of food. It didn't matter how poor the metal was to begin with. My Essence would make it look expensive, and give it considerable strength.

On my fourth day after leaving Windfall, I discovered an overturned wagon in the forest that had given me some more raw material to work with, mostly tin and copper, but also a few silver coins. I hoped that the wagon's unfortunate owners who had abandoned most of their possessions had at least escaped with their lives. There were no shortage of dangers in the wilderness, wild animals and bandits as well as fae... which were infinitely worse than either.

I had never actually encountered fae before, but I knew some of the ways to detect their presence. Strange wispy lights that drifted through the trees after dark were sometimes called "fae lanterns" and hungry goblins were not above tearing apart wildlife in particularly gruesome ways. Any place touched by fae taint behaved unpredictably. Flowers took on unusually brilliant hues, the normal sounds of the forest changed, rivers flowed the wrong directions and other impossible, cacophonous things occurred all around.

As I neared the river port of Uzun, I began noticing every sign of Wyld taint that I had ever been warned of, and my heart very nearly skipped a beat when I saw an enormous tree standing completely upside-down, its topmost branches barely touching the ground and its roots reaching into the sky. There was something in the air that made my skin prickle.

" _Fae_ ," Godchaser hissed, venom in her tone. My companion hated fae, which left me convinced that they were as bad as all the stories made them sound. And powerful too, by the looks of things.

I stared at the upside-down tree for a full ten minutes before I decided to keep going. Of course, the moment I turned away from the spectacle, I heard the sound of a silver flute. I glanced over my shoulder to see where it was coming from.

"No, Maker! We should go!" Godchaser protested. "Now!"

"In a minute," I retorted, following the music that was wafting through the trees like a man possessed. It was impossible to resist. Evil as the fae undoubtedly were, they were said to have an appreciation for those who were especially clever, and I was curious to learn how a tree so enormous had been completely uprooted and made to stand on its own branches without breaking under its own weight.

Not far from the large upside-down tree was a grove of slightly smaller trees all similarly suspended in midair. Sitting on the roots of one such tree was a fae nearly the size of a man. He was dressed in leaves and had goat hooves for feet, long pointed ears, a crown of stag horns and eyes of pure, liquid green. The fae was undoubtedly the musician I had heard, and as I approached him he smirked at me, his unnaturally broad grin marked with a pair of wicked little fangs.

"My apologies," I said. "I didn't mean to interrupt you. I suppose you're the one who turned these trees upside-down?"

"And if I did?" The fae replied. His voice was like his flute, liquid, silvery, and impossible to ignore.

"I'd like to know how you did it," I admitted.

"You wouldn't understand if I bothered to explain," The fae laughed. "Now tell me, mortal... what are you doing so very far from the safety of the road?"

"The road isn't safe for me," I replied honestly.

"Odd. You don't look like someone who should be on the run," The fae observed.

"That's a very silly thing for you to say," I smiled slightly.

"Why so?" The fae wondered.

"Well, you don't look like someone capable of turning large trees upside-down," I retorted.

That remark did draw a chuckle from the fae. "Well played, traveler! Have you a name?"

I saw no reason to lie. "Ilumio Veritas," I replied, giving my last name first in Realm fashion. "Or Recluse, it's all the same to me."

"Ilumio? That's Rivertongue, a Merchant House if I'm not mistaken? You're from the Scavenger Lands?" The fae wondered, raising an eyebrow in my direction.

"Only by birth. I was raised in the Imperial City," I replied.

"Interesting," The fae observed. "I'm rather surprised you gave me your name so readily. Most would try to use an alias. You're not afraid that I might ensnare you and bind you into servitude?"

"I would not recommend that," I smiled slightly.

"Why, is that a threat?" The fae gaped at me. "Who do you think you are, taunting a Knight of Cups?" He demanded, leaping down from his tree. He approached me slowly, sniffing me like an animal, obviously oblivious to the concept of personal space.

His eyes widened in disbelief as I brushed him away. I'd repaired my cloak as best as I was able to, but I'd had to cut apart some of the inner liner for patches, which meant that from certain angles Godchaser's tendrils were actually visible, particularly when I lifted my arms.

The fae took a few hesitant steps back, watching me carefully. "Ah," he observed, bowing slightly. "My apologies, Descending Sun. I mistook you for a mortal," Although he addressed me with a flowery First Age sobriquet, the way he kept his eyes on me seemed disrespectful. Of course, if I had been in his position, I would have watched myself like a hawk.

He laughed slightly. "You know, I seem to remember hearing a magnificent story this morning about a great golden demon kidnapping a girl in Chio. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"Kidnapping!" I gasped. "I didn't _kidnap_ Dove! I _rescued_ her!"

"Oooh!" The fae exclaimed. "I was going to write a song about the whole debacle, you see... but I'm beginning to think that you must have a _much_ more interesting version of the tale. Would you care to share it with a fellow _demon_?"

I gritted my teeth as he spoke those words. "I'm _not_ a demon!" I protested.

"Nor am I. But the world sees no difference between us, does it?" The fae taunted.

I sighed heavily and buried my face in my hands.

"Graces, I'd almost forgotten how pathetic you Solars can be! Forgive me, Veritas. I've no intention of adding to your burden. It's already absurd. Rest assured, no self-respecting demon, will ever call you "brother". Nor will any fae."

The fae paused. "But I am curious. How do you survive? Do you ever curse the wretched Incarnae for creating you? Doesn't it seem unfair? At least in the old days, they let you rule Creation."

I slowly absorbed what he had said. If Anathema _were_ demons, why would the fae say such things? I'd _wanted_ to believe what Godchaser had told me since I'd first escaped the Abbey of Mela... and now I was finding that I _did_ believe it.

"Maker?" Godchaser hissed in my ear.

I ignored her. I smoothed out my clothing and straightened my posture. "You don't understand," I argued. Of course, I didn't understand either... but I wasn't about to admit that.

The fae laughed. " _Please_ don't start! I've heard all of your rubbish about honor and duty before, and I simply don't believe it! But I do dearly love a good intrigue! So tell me what happened in Chio, if you will... and perhaps we will be friends?"

I sighed and sat down on a nearby tree, one that looked to have been felled by natural means. The fae crouched directly across from me on a boulder that I was certain hadn't been there only moments before. It appeared to have risen out of the ground as he desired a place to sit.

It occurred to me that I hadn't actually told anyone my whole story, except for Godchaser, who was naturally biased in her interpretation of events. Talking to a fae in the forest wasn't the strangest thing I might have done, and it seemed to me that he might actually understand what it felt like to be feared and reviled, simply for the crime of existing. Not knowing where to begin, I started with how Himitsu had framed me for stealing, and how Abbot Manu had taken me in when I was destined for execution... or to lose one of my hands as a thief, which was worse than a death sentence from my perspective. I told the fae about how I had met Dragonlord Chiron and discovered Himitsu posing as his servant. I confessed all of my own private thoughts, and realized as I began describing how I'd repaired Godchaser that there was something very wrong with me.

I could not tear myself away from the fae's soulless gaze.

"How dare you!" Godchaser shrieked. Shocked by the shrillness of her voice so close to my ears, I immediately pulled away from the fae, staggering to my feet. My head was spinning.

The fae looked very surprised to hear Godchaser speak, and even more shocked as she flew off of my shoulders and directly into his face. She couldn't really hold him down, but her fiery eyes were narrowed and if she had hands, it was obvious that she would have been strangling him.

"My Maker is protected!" She snarled. "Maybe the Unconquered Sun is busy with the Games, but you know that the Weeping Maiden is _always_ watching! Do you realize what you've done?"

The fae's eyes widened in horror. He gibbered some sort of apology and fled without a backwards glance, his upside-down trees crashing to the ground with his sudden departure. Unsteady as I was on my feet, I clung to Godchaser who hovered firmly in place despite having my weight upon her.

"What was that about?" I wondered uneasily.

"He was trying to ravish you," Godchaser replied.

"I... I think I know that now," I grimaced, rubbing my temples. But who is... the Weeping Maiden?" That name sounded very familiar to me, and not in a good way.

"I don't know. I can't remember," Godchaser admitted. "I just thought that the fae would be afraid of her, and that she... I can't say."

"Spit it out," I sighed, knowing she had stopped on one of her forbidden words.

"The Weeping Maiden likes Twilights. She protects some of them," Godchaser explained.

"She protects me?" I wondered uneasily.

"Oh no, she _hates_ you! Or at least she _did_ hate you, when you were still Perfect. You were one of Autochthon's favorites," Godchaser laughed. "But that fae, he wouldn't know if you were one of the Maiden's Twilights or not. So I made him think that you might be."

"You lied to save me?" I smiled slightly, despite how dizzy and awful you felt. "You're brilliant."

"I am as you made me," Godchaser replied smugly.

Still feeling nauseous, I headed in the direction of the road, finding myself a somewhat sheltered place to sleep. For the first time in what felt like an eternity my thoughts were raw and jumbled. I couldn't focus for more than a moment or two and the last thing I consciously remembered was Godchaser hovering over me and repeating something incoherent in Old Realm with a nervous expression on her face.

When I awoke, I was tied to a tree. It was sometime after sunrise but not yet midday. A fire burned very close to my feet, but not close enough that I could kick a piece of wood out of it. Fortunately, whoever had tied the gag around my mouth had not done a very good job about it. I spit out the dirty piece of gray cloth.

"Help!" I shouted, not sure if anyone could actually hear me.

There was no response. Godchaser was nowhere to be seen.

I struggled to release myself from my bonds but whoever had bound my wrists knew how to tie a good knot and my tools were on the opposite side of the smoldering fire pit. Someone had obviously rifled through them and taken the jewelry that I'd made from the my metal scraps. I couldn't guess who my captors were, though I somewhat doubted that they were members of the Scarlets or the Ravenous Winds, mostly because I was bound and not dead.

I'd been awake, but still bound for nearly an hour when I noticed a ghostly gray figure floating through the trees near the road.

"Help!" I shouted again, not caring that I would make myself a very tempting and easy target.

Godchaser hovered to a stop before me and looked down on me in a particularly condescending manner. I smiled and shrugged slightly. I couldn't move more than a few inches and even when I pulled as hard as I could, the ropes around my wrists did nothing but cut into my skin. Godchaser surveyed my predicament.

"This," she remarked dryly. "Is exactly why you should make me _hands_."

"Cut it out! I know you want me set free!" I sighed heavily. "What can you do about the rope?"

"Nothing," Godchaser replied. "I need Essence."

"I'll bet you do. How long have you been hovering?" I wondered.

"Not long. We aren't very far from where they took you. I waited until I was sure that the bandits were gone, and then I waited some more so that no one would see me crossing the road."

Although my companion did not like hiding, she was clever enough to do it well.

"That was smart," I said. "So what now?"

"Now you make up a plan. And quickly too, because the ones who tied you up are coming back!" Godchaser replied. I sighed heavily and she faltered slightly. She looked ready to say something else but then the light went out of her and she collapsed to the ground without another word, just a few feet in front of me. At first I thought that she'd exhausted herself... and then she winked at me mischievously. My captors had returned, and part of whatever plan I was supposed to formulate clearly involved Godchaser being mistaken for an inanimate object.

I evaluated the four men as they approached. An inexperienced eye might have called them monks, but I knew better. They were bandits, dressed in the simple fashion of the Immaculate Order solely so that they might subsist off of the charity of the ignorant between raids.

"Ah, he's awake!" The first bandit, obviously the leader, cackled. "Pay up!" He added, and one of his men grudgingly passed him a few small coins. Apparently they had been betting on whether or not I would regain consciousness. That thought was not reassuring.

"What's the meaning of this?" I demanded.

"Nothing personal. Easy pickings, that's all," he replied with a smirk. "Ravaged by fae, were you?"

I said nothing, but the bandit's leader knew that he had guessed right. "They do save us a lot of work," he remarked casually. "It's almost a pity, really. Haven't drawn my sword in months and still doing good business."

"And there's nothing at all in your black heart that tells you you've no business selling another person, least of all one in such a delicate state?" I demanded.

"You sound awfully lucid for running into fae," The second bandit observed.

"I'm a hard nut to crack. The fae succeeded in exhausting me but my faculties are perfectly intact," I replied. "Really, it would be better for you if you were to let me go."

"Huh, big words for a man tied to a tree," the leader snorted.

"What is _that_?" The third bandit wondered, reaching for Godchaser. "Dragons, this thing weighs a ton!" He exclaimed in shock as he picked her up and dropped her. I winced. Godchaser couldn't really feel pain, but I still avoided tossing her around. It seemed careless and rude.

The bandits laughed... that is, until their leader kicked Godchaser. My sloppy stitching came undone as she rolled over and light fell on her orichalcum carapace.

"Is that _gold_?" The leader stared in disbelief.

The bandits muttered to one another and then the leader turned back to me. "What is this thing and where did it come from?" He demanded.

"I don't know," I lied. "It was here when I woke up."

He frowned at my sloppy bluff. "You'll speak or I'll kill you!" The bandit leader warned.

"Loosen these ropes a little and I'll speak," I retorted.

"If I loosen them, you'll escape," The second bandit interrupted. From the fancy work on his belt, I suspected he was the one who'd tied me in the first place. "Don't think we need whatever it is that you think you're hiding! Someone in Uzun will pay us good coin for that raw metal."

"Not good enough. Not nearly what it's worth," I replied truthfully. "And that's only if you can find someone capable of taking it apart. Someone will certainly swindle you if don't know exactly what you're trying to unload."

The leader of the bandits mused over what I'd said and then motioned for his knot-tier to loosen my bonds. "Right then, if you're so smart... what is it?" He demanded.

" _She_ is Godchaser," I replied.

"Godchaser?" The leader eyed me warily.

"Yes. She chases gods and other beings by tracking their Essence. She gathers and stores information on them, and she can teleport after them when they discorporate, so it's quite impossible for them to escape," I explained.

"Escape from _what_?" The leader demanded.

"From _me,_ " I replied, slipping my bonds and slowly standing.

"Clever!" The leader pointed his sword at me, chuckling slightly.

"Those were good knots. Until your friend here loosened them," I smirked. "I'll just be going now," I informed him.

"You can't walk out of here!" The second bandit snapped.

"Yes, I can," I retorted.

The third bandit, thinking he was being stealthy, came up behind me and I dropped him immediately with a backfist. With a hoot of savage glee, Godchaser leapt into the air and chased the leader of the bandits directly into a tree.

The fourth bandit ran without looking back, leaving only the knot-tier staring at me in disbelief. Seeing that he was alone, he attempted a very nice strike at my throat which I parried easily and then a clean sidekick that struck my chest forcefully enough to send me staggering a few feet back. I caught his next punch and he responded with a maneuver that made me suspect he had a good amount of training in some Immaculate style.

Possibly, he would even beat me... if I didn't have one more weapon at my disposal. I let him bar my right arm and force me to my knees, pretending that I was beaten. It hurt as he twisted my wrist almost to the point of breaking, but the moment he stepped around to look down at me, I saw my opening. With a slight smirk, I glanced up at him over my shoulder and flared my mark.

"Anathema!" He gasped, releasing me as if he'd just been burned. I reversed his maneuver and dropped him at the foot of the tree where he'd tied me. Using the same rope I'd been bound with, I tied him up first and then took care of his two unconscious companions.

"You tie a damn good knot, demon," The knot-tier observed.

"Can you get out of it?" I wondered.

"Our friend will cut us free when he returns," The knot-tier informed me.

"Do you honestly think he's coming back?" I sighed, my hands on my hips. The knot-tier hung his head in defeat.

"He's going as far as Uzun, where he'll tell everyone you three were eaten by a demon and then drink until he can't stand," I informed him.

"Why didn't you kill us? The knot-tier demanded, glancing at his unconscious companions.

"No reason to. Incapacitating you was easier," I replied. "Strictly speaking, I don't believe in killing anyone. Your Water Dragon Style is not bad, by the way. Have you ever thought about actually becoming a monk?"

The knot-tier snorted. He was trying to seem non-chalant but I could see that he was already worming his way free of the bonds I'd put on him.

Searching through the bandit's gear, I helped myself to all of their ill-gotten coin and then found an old sword with a particularly flimsy blade. While I didn't have what I needed to bend the metal in my toolbox, I had discovered that if I understood something inherently, I didn't need tools at all. I could simply use Essence to work the metal into whatever shape I desired. Of, course, crafting without physical tools made it very obvious what I was.

Essence flared around my fingertips as I touched the metal. The knot-tier watched me work, awestruck and then grimaced as I fit him with a good pair of freshly forged shackles made from the blade of his own shoddy weapon. "That is still a sword you're wearing!" I informed him. "Struggle too much and it will cut you."  
"So you're leaving us to be ravished by the fae?" He demanded.  
"Do you think you deserve better? But no... as I've already told you, I don't kill people. But I don't let people who victimize others escape without punishment either. I won't come back this way, but I'll send the authorities to find you when I reach Uzun," I informed him. "In the meantime, I suggest that you start considering a career change. Before you're put on trial, get someone to send a message to the Abbey of Mela," I advised. "Ask for forgiveness and sanctuary."

"The Abbey won't take us in!" The knot-tier protested. "They won't believe we can be reformed!"  
"They'll take you in. And if they don't believe you can be reformed, you'll just have to prove it to them," I replied. "There are things you have to give up to be a monk, but it's an honest life, and a good one. Better than starving to death on this damned road."  
"How do you know so much about monks, demon?" The knot-tier demanded.  
"Until very recently, I was one," I informed him.

He gaped at me. I smirked.  
"Well, have a nice night! And I do hope it rains!" Whistling a little to myself, I walked away. I made it about two miles when I decided that it was high time to attend to Godchaser. I gave her some Essence and did as much sewing as my tired fingers would tolerate before finding myself a little copse of green that would serve as shelter if it did actually happen to rain. I considered saying a prayer to the local rain Gods, just to see if I could manage to arrange a nice cold drizzle right over the heads of the bandit monks.

From the top of the hill, I could see Uzun. It wasn't likely that I would make it to my destination before dark and I didn't want to play twenty questions with the porters who closed the gates after nightfall. Once the sun was down, the gates of the city would only be opened for honest and upstanding local residents with believable reasons for arriving home so late.

Since rescuing Dove, I'd felt unsettled. My attempts at meditation had been useless. For the past five years since I'd first become a monk, it had been my habit to recite sutras in the early evening... but the words that I had formerly sought comfort in now worried me. I wondered if there was some danger in praying to the Dragons as an Anathema.

The fae's words stuck in my mind. I didn't know much about the Incarnae, except that they existed. The idea that they were the superiors of the Immaculate Dragons, was a common heresy. Followers of the Hundred Gods believed in a great pantheon of deities, ranging from the tiny guardians of a single pond to the eight Incarnae, the rulers of the moon, the stars, and the sun.

I didn't want to admit to Godchaser that I was beginning to believe everything she'd said. I'd met more than a few despicable monsters in my travels so far, and I could not see myself turning into one. If anything, I'd been suffused with a kind of righteous fervor that told me I was meant to stand against evil, whether it reared its ugly head in the form of an evil sorceress, a fae trickster, or a bandit monk.

Exhausted from our ordeal, Godchaser settled into sleep and I left her sitting on a rock where I could still see her out of the corner of my eye. I took off most of my layers of clothing and put all of my tools away, wanting nothing that might distract me too close at hand. Leaving even my shoes behind, I stood on the edge of the cliff and watched the sunset. After a few moments meditation, I felt ready to pray. Like one of my Charms, the words which came to me were in Old Realm. They flowed out from me as if I had recited them daily for all of my life.

 _"Sol_ _Invictus,_ _powerful_ _and_ _mighty,_ _bestower_ _of_ _great_ _gifts_ _who_ _cherishes_ _and_ _nurtures,_ _through_ _whom_ _we_ _live_ _and_ _draw_ _the_ _breath_ _of_ _being,_ _I_ _offer_ _and_ _accord_ _you_ _the_ _highest_ _thanks._

 _Please_ _hear_ _and_ _aid_ _me,_ _and_ _help_ _me_ _out_ _of_ _my_ _misfortune._ _Grant_ _me_ _peace,_ _safety_ _and_ _good_ _health._ _Show_ _my_ _eyes_ _the_ _truth,_ _place_ _only_ _kind_ _words_ _upon_ _my_ _tongue_ _And_ _guide_ _my_ _actions_ _to_ _the_ _betterment_ _of_ _all._ _Protect_ _me_ _as_ _I..."_

I hesitated. The words which came next stuck in my throat.

The sun rested on the horizon line, cut thorough its center by distant fields of rice. In that moment of rare and perfect symmetry, the sky was unusually spectacular, golden and ruddy orange surrounding the half-circle of sun itself and a corona of blue and purple bleeding into the black of the night sky.

Such radiance was positively terrifying, but at the same time intimately familiar to me. I _recognized_ the presence I felt, though words could barely describe it. I drew the piece of gold wire out of my pocket, the one I'd taken from Sam's friends weeks ago. It was singed and partially melted from Godchaser's flight, but it still seemed stable enough to bend. I twisted it into a circle. The wire _needed_ my hands to give it shape and purpose. It became _something_ when I crafted it, something necessary and beautiful. If I could take a piece of broken wire and transform it into a work of art, why couldn't a great and powerful god do the same with a man?

" _Protect_ _me_ _as_ _I_ _work_ _in_ _your_ _name,_ " I finished.

I stared at what I held in my shaking hand. The gold wire was gleaming, and bent in the shape of a perfect circle with a delicate line drawn across its center. I didn't know if I'd repaired the damage with Essence unconsciously, or if an unseen hand had reached down from the Heavens and fixed it for me.

In that moment, I finally understood why I'd been compelled to stare at the sunset. Though I'd denied it at first because the truth was so overwhelming, I realized that I had been raw metal myself, and Chosen from all of the useless little pieces of slag in the world. My weaknesses had been cut away. My strengths had been sharpened with terrifying precision. I hadn't been possessed by a demon! I'd been forged into a tool fit to be wielded by the Unconquered Sun!

I had to tell someone how I felt, and I knew exactly who would appreciate the confession that was bursting out of me.

"Godchaser!" I shouted, racing back to where I'd left my companion. "Godchaser, I've had an epiphany!"

She did not respond.

"Godchaser?" I whispered fearfully, carefully lifting her up.

Her hearthstone, black and lifeless, fell into my hand.

I worked furiously all night. Although Godchaser had likened her hearthstone to my heart, I understood enough about how she actually worked to know that her death would not be permanent if I kept enough Essence flowing through her. Her hearthstone allowed her to regulate Essence like a living being, but it was the Essence itself that kept her alive, not the stone. Unfortunately, the more active she was, the more quickly she burned through her reserves. In the end, I decided to stabilize her in the only way I knew how. I made sure that she would stay "asleep" until her hearthstone was working again.

I wouldn't have her help or her companionship, but maybe that way she would survive the long journey to Nexus.

The feeling that came over me when I finished doing what I could was something akin to sitting at the bedside of someone seriously ill. I knew Godchaser needed to rest, but I also hoped that I would have the opportunity to speak with her again, at least one more time if I couldn't save her. I needed to tell her how _right_ she'd been about everything.

Dwelling on the subject of death did bring an uncomfortable question to mind. Was there an afterlife for beings like Godchaser? Did constructs have souls?

When the sun rose, I went down to Uzun. I gave a filthy little boy a coin and instructed him to tell everyone that three bandit monks had tried to rob an Anathema who'd left them tied up in the forest not far away. Such a strange story immediately drew most of the local authorities out onto the road heading west and helped me slip through town undetected.

I found the first ship that was headed in the direction of the Imperial City and paid for passage with the remainder of the coins I'd taken from the bandits without bothering to haggle down the absurd price. It departed very soon, and that was all that mattered to me. I did not want to stay in one place any longer than I absolutely had to.

I sat nervously in a corner of the deck, avoiding everyone's gaze until the ship was loaded and leaving port. It would be difficult to hide on such a crowded vessel, but it would only be a few days until we reached the Imperial City at which point I would be able to look for better, more private accommodations for my voyage to Nexus.

I'd have to be careful how I plied my trade, particularly since I was still being hunted... but a few well-placed inquiries would probably find me some of the jobs I was really looking for, the ones that were exceptionally difficult and high-paying.

On the evening of my first day aboard, I dozed off near the ship's galley and was woken abruptly several hours later by the shrieks of two mischievous children who'd spotted a rat. Their mother groaned and gathered them up, muttering an apology to everyone who'd been sleeping. I almost nodded off again, thinking it best to rest while I had the opportunity... but then someone sat down beside me.

The young woman was deeply tanned with beautiful dark eyes. She was dressed in simple, serviceable blue silk, a leather vest, breeches and the kind of soft acrobat's shoes that Westerners often wore when they were hopping from ship to ship. Obviously an experienced traveler, she carried a very fine sword on her hip and a battered leather case which I suspected contained an instrument. It was obvious that she had a weakness for gold jewelry, though everything she wore was cheap and not very well-crafted. There were a number of bracelets on her wrists and beads of varying sizes braided into her unruly mane of wine-colored hair. It was dyed with something harsher than henna and looked permanently windblown.

"Hello," she said with a disarming smile. "I'm Ping."

I did not respond, pretending I hadn't heard her.

"So... what's your name?" She pressed.

"Can't you see I'm busy?" I demanded, turning away from her and digging through my meager possessions for the little paper I had left. I should have bought more in Uzun, but it hadn't occurred to me that I was running out until I'd begun poking through the ream of plans in the bottom of my tool chest.

"Busy? You were _asleep_ a minute ago!" Ping informed me.

"Well, I'm busy now!" I replied. Taking out a drawing that I'd fumbled with before, I sharpened one of my pencils and began to work, hoping that Ping would get the message that I didn't want to make friends with anyone. Lovely as she was, I felt compelled to get her as far away from me as possible. Though I wasn't a monk any longer, and not technically bound by any vow of celibacy, being anywhere near to me was bound to be dangerous and I could not justify putting someone so obviously friendly, and well-meaning at risk.

Worse still, she was far too attractive for me to pretend that I thought nothing of her. I could only think of one reason a woman like her would be remotely interested in me. Like Sam, she had to be one of those meddling Sidereals. Whatever _they_ were.

"What is that you're working on?" Ping wondered, undeterred.

"A fountain," I replied truthfully. "I'm an engineer."

It seemed silly to call myself a jeweler. Although I was still getting used to my new status, I intuitively understood that artist, engineer, savant, and sorcerer combined could not sum up what it meant to be Twilight Caste. If I needed to be a carpenter, I was one. If I needed to be a smith, I didn't even have to find a forge. In a way, I was a tinker, but I was not a "jack of all trades". I was a master of anything I set my mind to, and a "Maker" of wonders like Godchaser.

"Well, I'm a bard... so maybe I'm not an expert on these things, but that looks like an awfully complicated fountain," Ping replied.

"Engineers get paid according to how complicated things are. The more incomprehensible it seems, the higher the fee," I retorted.

Ping laughed. Her voice was musical and I did not doubt that she was a fine singer. "It's not _incomprehensible_ , it's just _not_ a fountain!" She informed me. "Okay, "engineer"... what's this part do?"

She pointed to my drawing and I smiled slightly despite myself. "I see you're clever. It's not _only_ a fountain. It's a machine for purifying water," I admitted.

"Ooh! _You're_ the clever one, designing something like that! How does it work?" Ping pressed. She was so earnest and charismatic that it was impossible to deny her anything. I sighed heavily and began to explain, thinking she would probably get bored and wander off sooner or later, but she hung on my every word and seemed to be absorbing all of it. At very least, she asked solid technical questions that made her sound more like an engineer herself than a silly bard.

After listening to the explanation of my water-purification machine, Ping decided that she wanted to see all of the rest of my drawings. I carefully hid the ones I'd done of Godchaser but shared a few of my more mundane ideas. Upon seeing each one, she lit up like a child opening birthday presents. When I 'd finished explaining everything I'd scribbled out, Ping decided that it was high time for some shipboard entertainment. With a mischievous grin, she produced her instrument which turned out to be a lovely antique mandolin and began to play _the_ _Ballad_ _of_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody_.

Windswept Rhapsody was a folk hero like the Wandering Monk, a fictional bard who traveled all over Creation outfoxing evildoers and playing pranks on people who were too full of themselves. Ping soon gathered an audience. The songs she played were mostly common tavern fare, but her skill, both as a musician and as a storyteller, was very impressive. When an Immaculate traveling with us asked if she knew _The Peach Tree,_ Ping smiled slightly. She told a version of the story I'd never heard before, one that was a good deal more exciting than the original. The monk pretended not to be very impressed, and after he departed, Ping spun a scandalous, heretical yarn about an Anathema who'd saved a city from a flood. Then she picked up her mandolin again and played _the_ _Goblin's_ _Ball_.

All of the passengers danced to that tune, causing our ship to rock furiously despite the smoothness of the river. I was even persuaded to get up myself when another passenger took up the song on his flute. Obviously wanting to dance a bit herself, Ping stood over me and held out her hand, refusing to take "no" for an answer.

In addition to being a first-rate bard, she was also a wonderful dancer.

The days that made up our voyage from Uzun to the Imperial City felt blissfully short with Ping on board and the Captain insisted upon refunding her the money she'd paid for passage. No one could imagine the trip without her, and hearing Ping's endless chatter kept me from dwelling on the fact that Godchaser appeared to be dead... despite the small amounts of stabilizing Essence that I secretly poured into her every night.

I missed her constant enthusiastic chirping, and even her inappropriate comments and snickers that I knew could get me into serious trouble. Still I, began to fear that I was fighting a losing battle. The black corrosion was spreading again. If Godchaser wasn't already beyond the point of recovery, she was fading fast and there was nothing I could do about it.

It was cloudy when we finally reached the Imperial City, but that didn't seem to dampen Ping's spirits. As we pulled into port, everyone gathered their belongings and prepared to disembark, but Ping stopped the captain before he could lower the gangplank.

It was very difficult to deny her anything, and since I had repaired his watch, the captain was in a good mood. He bowed slightly to our charismatic bard and motioned for two of his sailors to push out a shipping crate for her to stand on.

"Before we all go our separate ways," Ping announced. "It has been my great pleasure to meet and entertain all of you these past five days. I've told you jokes and stories, I've sang songs for you... but there is one thing that I would like to leave you with. If you don't mind, I'd like to say a prayer."

No one objected, not even the Immaculate monk who was always muttering about something being not up to his impossibly high standards. As I'd come to expect from her, Ping began her prayer in fine dramatic fashion, first invoking the Goddess Mercury, patron of travelers, various Gods of the Sea and of Sailing, the God of Roads, and all five Immaculate Dragons. She then added some of the Gods that other passengers requested, and even said a few words to Luna, who was generally not mentioned in polite company. Breathlessly, she promised that she was nearly done and wanted only to say a little something for herself.

The Immaculate raised an eyebrow in her direction as Ping lapsed into Old Realm. Although he didn't seem to understand her words very well, I knew them _perfectly_. I reached for Ping's hand. She blinked in surprise as I recited along with her the same prayer to the Unconquered Sun that was burned into my memory. When we finished, Ping wrapped her arms around me. We understood each other better than words could express.

The sun finally peeked through the clouds as if he had heard his name invoked and we all disembarked from our ship. Ping followed on my heels at a steady clip. Her legs were shorter than mine, but her curiosity was insatiable, and there was no way she was going to let me go without knowing where I'd learned her prayer. I was curious as to how she knew it myself, but being a bard and well-versed in folklore, I suspected she might have heard it anywhere. There were a fair number of people who considered the Unconquered Sun their patron, and though they were all considered heretics by the Immaculate Order, they were not all Anathema.

"Recluse, where did you learn that prayer?" Ping demanded.

Of course... once again, I'd slipped up and used my nickname instead of a better alias. I'd discovered that I had terrible trouble answering to anything else, so I suspected it couldn't be helped. When I made it to Nexus, there would be no harm in adopting my actual name, if not my tainted surname. I was certain that there was more than one "Veritas" in the Scavenger Lands.

"Where did _you_ learn it?" I echoed.

"I've _always_ known it!" She replied.

"So have I," I paused, evaluating the busy streets before me and trying to make up my mind where I wanted to go. Though I desperately needed supplies and money, I was somewhat reluctant to leave area around the docks. It was more likely that I would be recognized in the nicer parts of the city, particularly not since Dragonlord Chiron, Ragara Sephora, the Immaculate Order or any one of my other pursuers might be lurking around my old haunts... thinking that I might try to make contact with someone wealthy and influential who still had a soft spot for me.

I considered going to see Sesus Nakira, but then decided against it. Although she had been my most outspoken defender at the time of my trial, she was also devoutly religious and would have to know what had possessed me to run from the Abbey of Mela. And because she had always been so kind to me, I did not have the heart to lie to her.

"Where are you headed?" Ping demanded.

"I'm going to Nexus," I replied.

"You're not going to stay around here for a few days?" Ping wondered. "But this is the Imperial City? Center of the world!"

"Hm. Well, I'm not impressed by it," I admitted, noticing a tavern with a door that refused to stay closed in the wind. "Why are you following me?"

"Because I want to. Because I like you," she replied.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" I pressed.

"Oh, I'm just here to make enough money for passage to Great Forks," she admitted. "Perhaps we'll travel together again?"

"I think we should probably part ways now," I paused, not wanting to admit how tempted I was by her offer. The prospect of a three month sea voyage was much less daunting if Ping would be along for the trip. Yet at the same time, I already had a weakness for her and couldn't imagine how much more difficult it would be to continue deceiving her if we spent much more time in each other's company. She wasn't just smart, sweet, and endlessly entertaining. She was also a powerfully beautiful woman, and more than once I had to bite my tongue and keep my hands to myself when she tousled my hair and kissed me playfully on the cheek.

"Why?" Ping demanded. "I thought you enjoyed my company!"

"I have my reasons," I said.

"You don't trust me?" She frowned.

"I don't trust _anyone,_ " I replied.

"And that's why it's so obvious that you're on the run!" She sighed, her hands on her hips.

I turned very slowly and stared at her. She folded her hands and glanced at me with an expression that spoke volumes. There was no use in denying it.

"I'm not going to ask you the reason you keep looking over your shoulder every time an Immaculate passes us by. I don't care what you did," Ping paused. "I just want to help you if you'll let me."

"Why?" I wondered.

"Because I feel like you need my help," she replied without hesitation. "There's no justice where Dragonbloods are involved. Not for us, anyway."

I assumed that she thought we were both heretics, and so I nodded slightly. As usual, Ping was right. And yet at the same time, I wondered if letting her "help" me would get me in as much trouble as Himitsu's "little job" had. Then again... I had no proof that she was a Sidereal. I'd simply gotten into the habit of suspecting anyone who seemed interested in me.

"It'll be easier for us to find passage if we're together," Ping explained. "People tend to be more suspicious of folks who are traveling alone."

"I can understand that," I nodded.

"So I'll be your wife," Ping looped her arm around me.

"What? No, no!" I protested. "You're too _young_ to be my wife!" I argued, trying desperately to hide how red my face had gotten at that suggestion.

"I'm too _old_ to be your daughter! You can't be more than thirty-five!" She replied, very matter-of-factly. Truthfully, I was forty-three but I said nothing... pleased and a bit surprised to learn that I looked so much younger than I was, particularly from the perspective of a beautiful woman.

"Honestly, how young do you think I am?" Ping demanded.

"Twenty?" I suggested, hoping that she was at least of legal age.

Ping burst out laughing. "I don't know if I should be flattered or crying!"

"You're older than that?" I wondered uneasily. "Older than twenty-five?" I guessed.

She rolled her eyes.

"How old _exactly_?" I asked.

"Old enough to be your wife!" Ping replied with a mischievous wink. "And it's not polite to ask a lady her age!" She added, punching me in the shoulder.


	12. Chapter 11 -Windswept Rhapsody (Veritas)

**Chapter 11**

 **Windswept** **Rhapsody**

A week passed. Ping began entertaining at several of the local taverns and I followed after her, making little repairs wherever we stayed. Playing a married couple, we would always get one room and a bed to share. Though Ping didn't seem to mind living in such close quarters with a man she barely knew, I continued to sleep on the floor and made sure to avert my eyes while she was changing her clothes.

Working in tandem, we soon earned enough money to pay for our passage at least as far as Nexus. We decided to stay on the waterfront a few more days in order to buy some new clothes and supplies. While she was playing her mandolin one afternoon, I slipped away from Ping and purchased myself a new cloak which would better hide Godchaser who'd been spending most of her time rolled up inside of my traveling pack, still unresponsive. Though white was not a good color for traveling, I knew that when Godchaser woke, she would appreciate her new covering and especially the very fine gold trim I'd purchased for it. It would make her look as I had seen her in my memories of long ago.

If Ping in all of her usual brilliance was supposed to be my wife, I needed to improve the quality of my own wardrobe so that I didn't look like her servant. I specifically avoided the tailors that I had favored when I still worked in the Imperial City but I knew where to get a good suit of clothes for a reasonable price. As Ping had explained, looking dirty and destitute was " _the_ _best_ _way_ _to_ _convince_ _folks_ _you_ _can't_ _be_ _trusted"._

When I was done shopping, I realized that I still looked a bit like a monk, dressed mostly in unbleached linen, albeit with a very nice chestnut leather belt, and an eye-catching stark white cloak. I found a purple silk scarf for Ping as well, suspecting that she wouldn't mind adding another ostentatious splash of color to her usual attire. The tailor gave me an absurdly low price for everything I requested after I fixed a few things for him and put the best edge he had ever seen on all of his shears.

Still, I was never precisely comfortable in the Imperial City. Godchaser's continued silence and my fear of being discovered left me convinced that I had to find passage off of the Blessed Isle as soon as possible. One night while she was working, Ping chanced upon a somewhat heretical rice merchant with a taste for her bawdiest songs. He gave us the promise of a tiny private cabin and the most reasonable price we might have expected for passage to Port Calin, which was only a week's travel from Nexus. And so we paid him, packed our bags, and informed the innkeeper who had been putting us up that we would be leaving in the morning. I took special care to make sure that Godchaser was sewn into my new cloak where no one could see her. The trickiest part was tailoring a piece of linen to adequately conceal her hearthstone and the orichalcum gorget that snapped around my neck.

On the morning of our planned departure, I woke up and found myself in a bed. That alone came as a bit of a shock, considering how many days I'd spent sleeping in the dirt or on hard floors. Then I remembered the argument I'd had with Ping the previous night. She'd insisted that if I wouldn't climb into bed with her, I should at least be willing to trade nights spent on the floor. She winked at me as I rolled over.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

"Must I get out of this bed? Well, I suppose we do have a ship to catch," I sighed heavily and say up. That was when I saw that Ping had a open bottle of wine in her hand.

"Drink with me first?" She said.

"The sun's barely risen," I argued.

"All the more reason to drink now. He can't see us yet," Ping smirked. Though we had made a promise not to pry at each other's secrets, Ping recognized my new devotion. True "believers", she explained, were few and far between. And because I was sure that the Unconquered Sun had led me to her, I trusted Ping, despite the fact that I knew that even her name "Ping" had to be an alias. I would have liked to know who she really was, but I was afraid that she might start asking me some uncomfortable questions in return.

"No, it's all yours," I sighed, pushing the bottle away. "I don't drink."

"You keep saying that. I don't believe it. You don't drink that waterfront piss they pass off as beer – that I believe! But _this_ is a good vintage!" She informed me.

"Why are _you_ drinking at the crack of dawn?" I wondered.

"Nerves," Ping admitted.

"You? Nerves?" I almost laughed out loud. From what I'd seen of her usual behavior, _nothing_ made Ping nervous! She could dodge even the worst drunks and troublemakers on the waterfront with effortless grace.

"Yes, sometimes! Particularly when I'm about to board a ship full of strangers who are going to be my only company for three solid months!" She replied.

"You won't be surrounded completely by strangers. You'll have me," I smiled slightly.

"And that will make the time fly by!" She smirked, leaning forward to kiss me on the cheek. I saw what she was doing too late, and we wound up knocking our heads together.

"Ow!" I grimaced. Ping once again offered me her wine.

I sighed heavily and scoffed at my own foolishness. Though I hadn't touched alcohol since becoming a monk, having a glass of good wine wasn't the same as being a drunkard. I took a small sip. The wine was excellent as Ping had professed, and did calm me down somewhat. I hadn't realized how tense I was myself until I surveyed our packed bags and considered that I was about to put myself in a situation that I could not run away from. I had to be careful, and it was absolutely necessary that I keep some distance from Ping, even as I toyed with the idea of telling her everything.

Although Ping was a dyed-in-the-wool Hundred Gods heretic with a particular fondness for Mercury and the Unconquered Sun, I still felt that telling her the truth would be dangerous. As much as I wished otherwise, the two of us could not continue traveling together without the burden of my secret between us.

"Can I have my wine back?" Ping wondered, gesturing to the wine that I was still nursing as I mused over what lay ahead.

"Don't drink it all!" I advised, and she chuckled.

"I couldn't if I tried! I have a whole case downstairs!" She informed me. Ten bottles for when we start to go mad, and two for when we make it to Nexus!" Ping stretched languorously with all the grace of a cat and then spit wine all over me as she glanced out the window.

"Sun-in-Glory!" Ping swore. Her favorite curse was so blatantly heretical that it made me smile every time I heard it. She truly didn't care what anyone thought of her. Then she turned to me with a wild-eyed expression and I felt my heart skip a beat. "A dozen monks just got on our ship!"

I rushed to the window and cursed incoherently in Old Realm myself. Ping gave me a critical look. She'd guessed that I was on the run weeks ago, but my reaction at that moment betrayed everything I hadn't told her. "Are they looking for you?" Ping demanded.

I took a deep breath. "Yes."

"Well, that's no good," Ping grimaced. "Most of our money's gone, and I doubt that stingy rice merchant will give us a refund when he finds out you're a wanted man. Though I suppose we _could_ stay here another week?" She suggested with a smirk.

That was when I noticed a large number of red-clad Imperial soldiers marching down the street. "No, I've got to get out of here _now_."

Ping stared in disbelief as the leader of the soldiers went to talk to the monks standing on the dock. "Recluse, what did you do?" She demanded.

"You promised you wouldn't ask!" I reminded her.

"But that's the Scarlet Legion!" Ping groaned and buried her head in her hands. "This humble heretic cannot take _that_ kind of heat!" She informed me.

"We'd best part ways," I replied. "And if anyone asks, you never met me!"

"No!" Ping refused, her hands on her hips. "I'm not leaving you behind! You can't get rid of me that easily!"

"Those men will be combing the port, and since they're talked to our captain over there, they'll have good descriptions of both of us. We're not getting out of here together undetected. Not on any reputable ship!" I argued.

Ping smiled slightly, and I could tell from the dangerous twinkle in her eyes that she'd just had an inspired idea. "What about a ship of ill-repute?" She pressed.

"What's that mean?" I wondered.

She put her arm over my shoulders and smirked. "Tell me, Recluse... how do you feel about becoming a _pirate_?"  
Ping and I hadn't exactly planned our escape when we slipped out the back door of the inn. We left most of our hard-earned supplies and Ping's wine, figuring that we stood a better chance of eluding my pursuers if we were light on our feet. Of course, since we were headed straight for the very worst part of the city Ping had also wanted me to leave my somewhat ostentatious new cloak behind also.

I refused, but since our partnership was based on the understanding that neither of us would ask too many awkward questions Ping didn't ask me _why_. As I saw it, there was only one thing I wasn't willing to leave the Blessed Isle without, and that was Godchaser. Attached as I was to my tools, I decided to bring them along too... although I was beginning to think that I could craft myself a more efficient set.

Ping and I made it only a few streets down from our residence when we stumbled across our first Imperial patrol, a small group of annoyed-looking Scarlets questioning a man whose tavern Ping had played at several times. Seeing the Dragonbloods before they caught sight of us, Ping and I dodged into the nearest alley and hid behind a reeking pile of garbage. We watched the soldiers in silence, not daring to breathe.

"I've already told you!" Our former employer protested. "Yes, I hired them, but they've worked for practically _everyone_ since they came to town! You can't miss those two! Wherever the girl's playing there's bound to be a crowd, and the man who follows her won't be more than ten feet away, up to his elbows fixing something. If you haven't seen em' yet, my bet is they got on a boat right under your enormous nose!"

"You fool!" The leader of the Scarlets slapped the man and he crumpled to the ground. "How dare you suggest such a thing? You don't even know what those fugitives have done! You'd better hope they haven't escaped!" He snorted and turned away on one heel. The leader of the men was clearly a Fire-Aspect and maybe a Cathak himself, possibly some relative of Dragonlord Chiron. Whatever house he belonged to, it was obvious that he was inexperienced and arrogant, like most young Dynasts.

"Fanglord, we'll never find him knocking down doors! Half of these mortals are criminals and they've no respect at all for the law! They'll hide him right under our noses if we don't tell them that he's..." One of the soldiers protested.

"Shut up!" The Fanglord snarled. "You know our orders! If my uncle says that we call him a "fugitive"... _then_ _we_ _call_ _him_ _a_ _fugitive_! Is that understood? Search the inn!" He ordered.

"What was that all about?" Ping wondered as the Scarlets followed their leader's command and went inside the inn. Trying to look as casual as possible, the two of us waited until the soldiers all appeared to be gone and then crossed the street. I didn't answer Ping's question. I wanted to remind her that she had promised not to ask about my past, but I couldn't shake the feeling that we weren't out of danger yet.

"Heretic!" A voice demanded. "Stop where you are!"

I looked up. Standing only a few feet away from me were two Immaculate monks.

"Uh oh," Ping blanched. Quicker on her feet than I was, she took off running and the monk went flying past me as if he hadn't seen me at all.

They were after _her_?

Not for the first time, I suspected there was a lot more to my companion than met the eye. I already knew from dancing with her that Ping was very fast and coordinated. She succeeded in knocking over half a dozen stalls as she dodged the monks all around the marketplace, moving like an acrobat with the streetwise sense of an accomplished thief.

"Damnit, Recluse... aren't you coming?" She demanded from a nearby rooftop.

That was when some of the Scarlets apparently decided that they were done trying to force answers out of the working poor who were largely immune to typical Realm intimidation anyway. Three Dragonbloods stepped out of the inn and all of them stared at me in disbelief. I did not have to ask myself if I had been recognized.

"I'm right behind you!" I shouted.

Ignoring the exclamations of shock from the gathering crowd, I leapt effortlessly onto the nearest rooftop. Ping had used a fruit stand as a step up herself, but there was no explaining what I had just done. It was an impossible feat without using Essence. Fortunately, Ping was busy tripping up a monk with a clothesline... which meant that she hadn't noticed me momentarily defying gravity.

The two of us jumped from one building to the next and even busted through the windows of a brothel, desperately trying to dodge the growing hordes of monks and soldiers who were following our flight on the streets below. Some of them pursued us across the rooftops, but even the elite Scarlets were slowed by their armor and not as adept at running across clay tiles as we were, particularly since most of them were wearing riding boots and Ping and I were both in cloth shoes.

The monks were another story. While they were mostly mortals and not Dragonbloods, they all trained in martial arts and were light on their feet. Two of them cut off Ping, and she drew her sword. I noticed with some surprise that she struck the first only with the flat of her blade when she could have easily killed her opponent. When the second tried to take her down from behind, I caught his punch and locked up his arm so that I could deliver a swift arc kick to his gut and then sweep him onto his back.

Another monk soon took his place, an Air Aspect Dragonblood surrounded by an anima of cold that was painful by sheer proximity. He lashed out with a stunning combination of jumping spinning kicks that I would have applauded, had they not been aimed in my direction. He finally caught me with a very sharp back kick, and the strength behind his blow forced me to catch my breath.

Fortunately, I'd seen enough of his moves to anticipate what we would do next, and so I pretended to throw a slow roundhouse at him. Before he could counter with a wheel kick to my head, I leapt into a wheel kick of my own, striking him squarely in the face. The Air Aspect slid off the roof into a display of pottery and did not get back up, loose tiles and dust falling all over him like spring hail.

"Wooo!" Ping exclaimed. "Nice one, Recluse!"

"Snake style," I replied. "The meaner they are, the harder they fall." Another monk tried to strike me from behind and I caught him in the temple with a ridgehand strike. "Where are we going anyway?" I demanded.

"Fisherman's Wharf," she answered, taking down her opponent with the flat of her blade. He was an especially nimble soldier who'd succeeded in following us for several blocks, probably an Earth Aspect and obviously talented since he'd made it into the Scarlet Legion, but Ping made him look absolutely inept. I was very curious to know why she carried a sword if she didn't intend to kill anyone with it and decided that my host of questions would have to wait until we escaped.

 _If_ _we_ _escaped._

Catching sight of something nearby, Ping suddenly grinned. "This way!" She shouted, sliding down a gutter into a heap of garbage. I followed her without hesitating, grimacing as I landed on my feet in a puddle. I'd soaked myself with something that smelled an awful lot like the contents of a chamber pot. Still, with two Scarlets, one on either side of us, and three monks on the roof... I couldn't afford to waste a moment.

"I've got the monks," I told Ping. The two of us stood back to back.

"They're after me!" She argued.

"I noticed that. You'll have a lot of explaining to do when we get out of here!" I informed her.

"Oh, I'm not explaining anything if _you're_ not explaining anything!" She retorted. "Those Scarlets are chasing _you!_ " She reminded me.

That was when the agile Air Aspect monk with the deadly flying kicks reappeared. He nearly landed a kick on my head that would have broken bone, had it not contacted with the blade of Ping's weapon instead. The monk cursed and staggered back, clutching his bleeding foot.

The first Scarlet thrust his sword at me and I dunked, sweeping his feet out from under him.  
As I blocked yet another violent flurry of attacks from the Air Aspect, the Fanglord barreled into the alley, flames billowing all around him. He'd obviously seen the mess we'd made of his highly trained men and was extremely upset. Generally speaking, Fire Aspects tend to resemble their elemental heritage when it comes to virtues, relying mostly on sheer pigheadness.

I was beginning to feel the strain of drawing on so much Essence myself and was certain that my Caste Mark was about to start flickering. That would be the end of any cooperation that Ping and I might expect from the waterfront locals. A slew of monks and soldiers chasing after a pair of wandering performers warranted their assistance, but a _demon_ was another matter entirely. I didn't even want to think about how Ping might react if she saw my anima flare, and I knew that without her guarding my back I was as good as dead. I'd dropped my tools nearly a mile back when I'd used the box to knock the teeth out of a monk. Even if my life depended on it, I had nothing I could use as a weapon.

Or did I?

As the Fanglord lashed out at me with his daiklave, I swept up my cloak and the blade struck Godchaser with a resounding clang. The young Dragonblood stared in disbelief at his chipped weapon and I whispered a quiet apology to Godchaser, even though I knew that she was still unconscious and couldn't hear me. I was also annoyed that I would already have to repair my new cloak, but sewing up a piece of clothing _was_ easier than sewing up skin.

Another Scarlet charged at me and I dunked under his blade. Ping leapt over my head like a gazelle, bringing her sword down on his helmet with a force that made his eyes roll back in his head as he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. I took a glancing blow from a bamboo staff before I finished off the last of the monks who were chasing us with a hook kick.

As I caught my breath, a hand reached to grab my hood and I whirled around and raised my first, almost striking recklessly until I saw that it was Ping who had me. The Fanglord was on his knees, bleeding from a sword thrust that went directly _through_ the plates of his lamellar armor and Ping looked more frantic than I had ever seen her.

"This way!" She tugged on me. "Before more of them come running! _Now_!"

We darted into a steam-filled alley between two bathhouses and clung to the walls as we raced through the crowded, stinking, fish market. At the end of a long and rickety dock was the scariest ship I'd ever seen.

Really, "ship" wasn't even a good name for it. It was a raft, or _maybe_ a boat if one were feeling very generous, the kind of craft used only for coastal fishing and trapping crabs. A large, surly-looking Westerner was loading barrels onto the deck under the steely gaze of a scarred, one-eyed Tya who smoked a twisted ivory pipe. The Tya missed Ping and myself because of her eye patch. She watched the monks that followed a few minutes after us with disdain.

As soon as the Tya's attention was turned on our pursuers, Ping motioned for me to climb inside an empty barrel. Once I was safely sealed up, she hopped into a second barrel herself, popping out a large knothole with the pommel of her sword so that she could reach up with one arm and put her own lid back on. It was clearly a trick that she had used before.

We held our breath and watched the monks approach the Tya, who didn't even stand up to acknowledge them. "What do you want?" The Tya demanded in heavily-accented Low Realm.

"We're looking for a pair of heretics," the first monk replied without hesitation.

"Look somewhere else," the Tya snorted.

"Whose ship is this?" One of them demanded.

"Not yours," the Tya replied.

"Now listen, you!" The second monk protested.

"You listen!" The Tya snapped, grabbing him by the collar of his robe. "I don't know nothin' about any heretics, but if you'd like some trouble..." She began.

"Easy, Tick!" A man's voice laughed. "You gonna break that monk, and then what you gonna do with him? The Captain don't like corpses on his ship!"

I heard more laughter, and through a crack in the wood of my hiding place, I saw three more dirty Westerners. The big dock hand cracked his knuckles and grunted. The two monks both looked like mortals but they seemed ready to hold their ground, at least until an old Water-Aspect Dragonblood arrived on the scene. He was dressed ostentatiously in blue and black silk with a good quantity of gold and pearls sewn into his clothing, which made him stand out in stark contrast to his humble surroundings. Like most very old Dragonbloods, he didn't look entirely human. His skin was almost coal black and littered with silvery scales and his even his eyes were vaguely reptilian. Rings adorned every one of his clawlike fingers. A second Water-Aspect, a teenage girl who strongly resembled the old man, hopped down from the deck of the ugly little crab boat, evaluating the monks with obvious disdain.

The old Dragonblood looked even less impressed with them. I'd never seen Dragonbloods react with such hostility to Immaculate monks before... but then I remembered that Ping had definitely said something about _pirates_.  
"Is there a problem?" The old Dragonblood demanded.  
"We're looking for heretics," the first monk stammered, not sounding very certain of his mission.  
The young Dragonblood snorted.

"No heretics on my boat. Just honest fishermen," the old Dragonblood replied. "Now why don't you two make a nuisance of yourselves somewhere else?" He dismissed them.

The monks left without a word of argument.

I bit my tongue as the big dock hand picked up the barrel I was hiding in and hit my head three or four times as he easily rolled it up onto the half-sunken crab boat. Once I was safely on the deck, I peered through a crack in the wood and saw Ping's barrel sitting beside mine. She poked her hand out through her knot hole and gestured to the dock hand who'd carried us both aboard. When he saw her waving from a distance, he crept closer and rubbed his eyes, clearly wondering what he was looking at. Ping let him get within about six inches of her, and then her hand darted out again. She seized the Westerner by his braided beard and knocked his face into the side of her barrel with shocking strength.

"Go get Jing Wei," she hissed. "Tell him he's got two more "honest fishermen" on his boat."

I did not ask how Ping had known that the "honest fisherman" whose boat we'd stowed aboard was actually the notorious smuggler and sometimes-pirate Jing Wei, who was hated by the Realm almost as much as any Anathema.

When the sailor brought his captain back for negotiations, the entirety of the business between Ping and the old Dragonblood was conducted in Wavetongue, which I couldn't understand. Money and something else changed hands, and Ping definitely showed the young Dragonblood her blade, which the girl seemed to like very much.

The ship we had stowed away on was called the _Ying_ _Long_ and that it was uncomfortably small by any standards, crewed by only four Westerners, the captain, and his two officers. The Westerners paid no attention to me because I did not speak any Wavetongue. Fortunately, the bad-tempered Tya called "Tick" who served as quartermaster was conversant in Low Realm. The two Dragonbloods, Jing Wei and his daughter Matsu, both spoke High Realm and Rivertongue.

I learned only after the sun had gone down that Ping had sold her sword to Matsu. To Jing Wei she had passed along all of our remaining money, an unopened bottle of wine that she was inexplicably carrying, and the promise that the two of us would help to crew the Ying Long until we reached our destination.

I had never sailed before myself and although I felt confident that I could be useful as a carpenter, Ping had volunteered my services in a different capacity.

"You said you could fix anything..." She began.

"I meant doors, boilers, pocket watches... not _food_!" I protested.

Ping only snickered and went off to attend to her duties as a deck hand, leaving me staring helplessly at a low ceiling full of pots and pans and a dozen unmarked barrels of provisions.

She'd promised Jing Wei that I could _cook_.

Of course, raised in the house of a well-to-do merchant, I'd never cooked before in my life and I didn't know how to make shipboard provisions even remotely palatable. Fortunately, Ping assured me, most sailors were accustomed to food that was blackened, over-salted, mushy, or otherwise foul beyond all reason. I learned the kitchen tasks quickly enough and eventually discovered a small cache of spices stashed in the back of a cabinet. If I used them sparingly, there would be enough to make the cured meat and floury biscuits edible for the duration of our voyage, if not exactly gourmet fare.

A month passed. I learned a lot of Wavetongue and became somewhat competent at my job, which also involved pulling teeth, giving stitches, and fixing anything that broke. Jing Wei had a tendency to bash his delicate navigational tools when they failed to tell him what he wanted them to, a thing which always made me cringe. I repaired his sextant three times, and after the third time he declared that I was "useful for something", despite being a "shit cook".

Ping endeared herself to Jing Wei and everyone else in her usual fashion by telling stories and playing her mandolin. She obviously knew her way around a ship also, and the crew marveled at how quickly she could skitter up into the rigging and unfurl a sail. Largely because of Ping, we were both offered permanent positions on the ship before we were halfway to our destination.

I politely declined, though Ping promised Jing Wei that we would at least consider his generous offer – which involved her getting her sword and our money back. I tried to explain to Ping that I didn't want to be a pirate... but she only laughed and reminded me that I was already a fugitive. What choice did I have?

I decided that I would stand my ground on one point, however. I had not killed anyone yet and would not. Ping assured me with her irresistible smile that I wouldn't have to, even if we did become full-fledged criminals. She claimed that she had never killed anyone herself, but I remembered the expression on her face when she'd run that Dragonblood through. Although she was good at parrying and dodging, I did not doubt that she'd spilled a fair amount of blood in the past. It was obvious, however, that she preferred to avoid doing so.

Though Jing Wei occasionally raided ships, he was also in favor of avoiding fights whenever possible. Before Ping and I had come aboard, the Ying Long had been heavily loaded with contraband and Jing Wei's goal was to make to Nexus without coming under the nose of anyone he couldn't outrun. The situation suited me just fine. I was pleased to hear that there would be no "pirating" whilst Ping and myself were part of the crew.

We made very good time, passing ships that had left the Imperial City days before our departure. More importantly, as we neared our destination, I had noticed a startling change in Godchaser's status. Though she didn't wake, her hearthstone had begun to flicker with light again, and I hoped desperately that meant that my meager efforts were helping.

I didn't dare do any serious work in the close quarters if the ship, but I still managed to privately feed Godchaser enough Essence every night to curb the strange black corrosion that she seemed so prone to. I missed her more seeing that faint spark of recovery in her hearthstone than I had when I was certain that I had lost her. As much as I still worried over Godchaser, I now had someone else in my life, a woman who was in many ways even more maddening and incomprehensible.

 _Ping._

In my efforts to keep our relationship platonic, I took my kitchen duties very seriously and found that scrubbing pots and pans afforded me far too much time to think about everything that had happened to me so far and wonder what I really intended to do with myself when we reached out destination. Was this what the rest of my life would be like, sailing on the Ying Long?

I'd felt very inspired before Godchaser's hearthstone had failed and had begun imagining a future where I could save damsels in distress and battle injustice. I'd almost forgotten that in the eyes of the world I was still a loathsome demon. I wanted so many things, especially a chance to do some genuine good, something far more important than serving up gruel for a crew of pirates who didn't speak any language I could understand and only tolerated my presence because they loved Ping.

Not that I blamed them for that. As difficult as it had been for me to admit, I loved Ping myself, and I felt undeserving of her attention. I decided that I should make something for her so that when we did part ways, she would have something to remember our time together. In exchange for some minor tinkering above and beyond my expected duties, I'd acquired a few small bits of silver. I'd also won a ring gambling with Matsu, and had set about making it into a pendant with a tiny piece of orichalcum from one of Godchaser's broken parts. I suspected that if I ever succeeded in waking her, she would certainly approve of what I had done with it. After so many weeks of tedium, I needed to do something exceptional... and hearing Ping recite her favorite prayer each morning had given me the perfect idea.

With more than a little Essence to aid my efforts, I coaxed the orichalcum into a perfect circular disk and then painstakingly crafted rays of gold, silver, and bronze extending out from it in all directions. It was a design reminiscent of the First Age, that wouldn't have looked out of place on the crown of an ancient queen.

I finished my gift for Ping when we were very near to our final destination, perhaps only a few days away. I could see the coast on the far horizon, and foolishly thought that we had already made it to freedom. It had taken me so long to complete Ping's necklace only because I'd never been a very good gambler and I'd had to win a few more tosses of the dice and a bet at cards in order to get the remainder of the metal that I needed. Since I had no chain and not enough material to make one, I'd taken a strip of fabric from my shirt, braided it, and bound it with four blue glass beads. The resulting piece was somehow "earthier" than the pendant alone, and less likely to draw critical stares.

When I finally mustered up the courage to give my gift to her, I found Ping sitting on the bow of the ship playing her mandolin, _the_ _Ballad_ _of_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody_ once again. The picture she painted was so perfect that I almost believed she was the legendary bard herself. I wasn't the only one who noticed the similarity. With how often Ping played her favorite tune, several other members of the crew had begun referring to her as _Little_ _Rhapsody_... or less elegantly, _Windswept_ _Ping_.

 _Oh,_ _I_ _was_ _born_ _a_ _sailor_ _on_ _a_ _ship_ _far_ _out_ _West,_ _No_ _place_ _to_ _lay_ _my_ _head_ _down,_ _every_ _day_ _in_ _a_ _new_ _town,_ _Blow_ _me_ _where_ _the_ _wind_ _goes,_ _I'll_ _play_ _for_ _you_ _as_ _it_ _sweeps_ _me,_ _Won't_ _you_ _spare_ _a_ _coin_ _for_ _a_ _humble_ _bard?_ _And_ _listen_ _to_ _my_ _melody?_

 _They_ _call_ _me_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody,_ _for_ _I_ _have_ _no_ _home,_ _They_ _call_ _me_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody,_ _and_ _far_ _and_ _wide_ _I_ _roam!_

 _Oh,_ _I_ _was_ _born_ _a shepherd in_ _the_ _mountains_ _up_ _North, No_ _place_ _to_ _lay_ _my_ _head_ _down,_ _every_ _day_ _in_ _a_ _new_ _town,_ _Blow_ _me_ _where_ _the_ _wind_ _goes,_ _I'll_ _play_ _for_ _you,_ _as_ _it_ _sweeps_ _me,_ _Won't_ _you_ _close_ _your_ _eyes_ _and_ _drift_ _away_ _to_ _the_ _song_ _I_ _bring_ _with_ _me?_

 _They_ _call_ _me_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody,_ _for_ _I_ _have_ _no_ _home,_ _They_ _call_ _me_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody,_ _and_ _far_ _and_ _wide_ _I_ _roam!_

 _Oh,_ _I_ _was_ _born_ _a_ _bandit_ _on_ _the_ _plains_ _of_ _the_ _South,_ _No_ _place_ _to_ _lay_ _my_ _head_ _down,_ _every_ _day_ _in_ _a_ _new_ _town,_ _Blow_ _me_ _where_ _the_ _wind_ _goes,_ _I'll_ _play_ _for_ _you,_ _as_ _it_ _sweeps_ _me,_ _For_ _I've_ _no_ _skill_ _for_ _work_ _at_ _all..._ _just_ _a_ _gift_ _for_ _rhapsody._

 _They_ _call_ _me_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody,_ _for_ _I_ _have_ _no_ _home,_ _They_ _call_ _me_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody,_ _and_ _far_ _and_ _wide_ _I_ _roam!_

 _Oh._ _I_ _was_ _born_ _a hunter in_ _the_ _forests_ _out_ _East,_ _No_ _place_ _to_ _lay_ _my_ _head_ _down,_ _every_ _day_ _in_ _a_ _new_ _town_ _Blow_ _me_ _where_ _the_ _wind_ _goes,_ _I'll_ _play_ _for_ _you,_ _as_ _it_ _sweeps_ _me,_ _Won't_ _you_ _spare_ _a_ _coin_ _for_ _this_ _humble_ _bard?_ _And_ _perhaps_ _a_ _cup_ _of_ _tea?_

 _They_ _call_ _me_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody,_ _for_ _I_ _have_ _no_ _home,_ _They_ _call_ _me_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody,_ _and_ _far_ _and_ _wide_ _I_ _roam!_

 _Oh_ _I_ _was_ _born_ _a_ _merchant_ _in_ _the_ _Scavenger_ _Lands,_ _No_ _place_ _to_ _lay_ _my_ _head_ _down..._ _the_ _thieves_ _and_ _whores_ _sure_ _stick_ _around!_ _Blow_ _me_ _where_ _the_ _wind_ _goes,_ _I'll_ _play_ _for_ _you,_ _as_ _it_ _sweeps_ _me,_ _Have_ _you_ _ever_ _heard_ _a_ _song_ _so_ _sweet?_ _Do_ _you_ _think_ _I_ _sing_ _for_ _free?_

 _They_ _call_ _me_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody,_ _for_ _I_ _have_ _no_ _home,_ _They_ _call_ _me_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody,_ _and_ _far_ _and_ _wide_ _I_ _roam!_

 _Oh_ _I_ _was_ _born_ _a_ _wanderer_ _in_ _a_ _place_ _I_ _can't_ _name,_ _No_ _place_ _to_ _lay_ _my_ _head_ _down,_ _every_ _day_ _in_ _a_ _new_ _town,_ _Blow_ _me_ _where_ _the_ _wind_ _goes,_ _I'll_ _play_ _for_ _you,_ _as_ _it_ _sweeps_ _me,_ _For_ _I_ _was_ _born_ _a_ _simple_ _bard... called_ _Windswept_ _Rhapsody._

"Bravo!" I clapped when she finished. "Wonderful as always."

"One would think you'd be tired of hearing that song," Ping sighed.

"You never get tired of playing it," I replied.

"It has sentimental value. It's the first song I ever..." She hesitated for a moment.

"Something wrong?" I wondered.

"Something is. I can't put my finger on it. Matsu is nervous. She said that she heard there might be Lintha around here," she admitted.

"Lintha? What would they be doing so far East?" I wondered uneasily.

Really, I didn't know much about Lintha except that they were ruthless pirates and demon-worshippers. Ping had made it very clear that by demon-worshippers, she did not mean " _honest_ _heretics_ _like_ _us_ " who said prayers to little Gods or to the Unconquered Sun. She meant the kind of demon-worshippers who sacrificed children and summoned monsters from Malfeas to lay waste to cities.

"I don't know, and I hope she's wrong. In any case, we're not liable to run into them until the sun goes down, and even then we won't see them coming. At present, all we can really do is sit here and enjoy the sunset. And it is beautiful, isn't it? I love the way it looks over the sea," Ping sighed, watching the distant horizon.

"You love everything," I smiled slightly.

"So what if I do?" She replied, moving closer to me. We sat together for a moment, not speaking. Ping laid her head on my shoulder and sighed heavily. "Why are you going to Nexus?"

"Ping, I thought we agreed that we were both allowed to have secrets!" I reminded her.

"But I don't _like_ keeping secrets from you any more than I like you always sleeping on the floor! It doesn't sit well with me. I want us to be _friends,_ " Ping admitted.

"We are friends!" I replied.

"I want us to be _better_ friends," she replied. She looked directly at me with her piercing eyes and pulled back the collar of her shirt just slightly. I wasn't sure if she was trying to draw my attention or not, but she was very difficult to ignore.

"Well then, why don't you just tell me whatever it is that you want to say?" I paused, my fingertips drifting to touch the amulet in my pocket. "You can trust me."

"No, I _can't_! Trust has to go both ways, Recluse, and y _ou_ don't trust anyone!" Ping protested. "You've never given me a straight answer to any question I've asked! It's been nearly three months and I still don't know anything about you!"

I sighed heavily, my hands on my hips. "And I don't believe for a second that someone as talented as you are, with such _expensive_ taste in _wine_... would go to all the way to Great Forks _instead_ of staying in the Imperial City where you could make three times as much money! _You're_ the one that got us in with these pirates and _you_ weren't just being altruistic when you suggested that the two of us could hide better _together_."

"Ah," Ping observed. She didn't say that I was wrong, but that would have been pointless. I already knew that I was right.

"If we're going to hang out all of our dirty laundry, then one of us is going to have to go first!" I sighed heavily. "And since you're the talkative one... how's this for a deal? You answer one question of mine and I'll answer one of yours. Who are you running from?"

Ping sighed in defeat. I could tell I'd taken the lead with an uncomfortable question, but I supposed that was only fair. There were very few things that she could ask me that I might easily answer.

"The Immaculate Order," Ping admitted. "Specifically, the Abbey of Daana'd. Those monks we saw in the Imperial City getting onto our ship were looking for me, I recognized one of them. He's followed me all the way from Coral."

"All the way from _Coral_? Why?" I wondered, shocked that any monk would pursue a heretic so far.

"Oh no you don't! I answered your question! Now it's _your_ turn to answer one of mine! Why are you going to Nexus?" Ping laughed.

"All right. I'm going to Nexus to help a friend. She's very sick, and if I go there, I might be able to find a cure for her," I replied, somewhat relieved that she'd asked me a thing I found easy to answer honestly.

"A quest for a lady friend? Are you in love?" Ping pressed, clearly intrigued.

"You're outrageous!" I sighed heavily. "And no, I'm not in love!"

Ping grinned. "Oooh, yes you are, but you're in love with someone else! Does your lady friend know?"

"Will you stop saying "lady friend"? I'm not involved in anything scandalous! And it's my turn to ask a question! You've asked three in a row!"

"You're no fun!" Ping put her hands on her hips, giving me a very obstinate glare. "And you've better bet I'm not going to drop this!"

"My love life is not as exciting as you're making it out to be," I replied. "Now what was it that you were saying about the Ballad of Windswept Rhapsody? You stopped yourself before you finished."

Ping sighed. She seemed to hesitate for a moment and then took a deep breath. "It's the first song I ever wrote."

"Ridiculous! That song has been around for a hundred years! You say you're older than you look but you're not _that_ old!" I protested. I thought for certain that she was lying to me, or that she was mad. "Are you?" I wondered uneasily. She only smiled slightly in a manner that made me more than a little nervous. I knew I'd asked a second question which she didn't have to answer yet, and so I held my tongue.

"What's so important about your cloak?" Ping asked.

"It has an artifact hidden inside of it," I confessed.

"Ahah!" Ping laughed. "So that's what the Scarlet Legion was looking for? You're a thief?"

"I'm _not_ a thief!" I protested. "The Dragonlord..." I started to argue that Godchaser had been mine all along... but then I decided that it was better to hold my tongue until Ping asked me a question I really couldn't dodge. "He gave the artifact to me," I finished. "Although he probably expected that I would give it back."

Ping chuckled. I paused, thinking for a moment on my next question. Though there were lots of things that I could have asked her about, Ping's reaction to my inquiries about her age made me very suspicious. "How old are you?" I asked. I still suspected that she was much younger than me, probably young enough to be my daughter. I _hoped_ she was at least thirty. Anything less made me feel like a dirty old man.

"What a terrible question to ask a lady!" Ping gasped, fanning herself dramatically.

"You're not a lady. You're a pirate," I reminded.

"And a _bard_!" Ping added.

"I wasn't going to mention that. I was trying to be polite," I replied.

She laughed. "Ak! You wound me!"

"Well?" I pressed. "I want the truth this time!"

"I am one hundred and twenty-six," Ping replied.

"A hundred and twenty-six!" I echoed in disbelief.

"I _said_ I was old enough to be your wife," Ping smirked.

"Do you think this is a joke? If you're really that old, you're old enough to be my _grandmother_!" I protested. "How is that even possible? You're not a Dragonblood, are you?" She didn't look like one, or act like one... but sometimes you couldn't tell.

"Am _I_ a Dragonblood?" Ping glared at me, clearly offended that I would suggest such a thing. Ping had many nasty things to say about Dragonbloods, although she seemed to enjoy Jing Wei's company.

"So you're _not_?" I observed, smiling slightly at her reaction. It still made me uncomfortable that she'd claimed to be so old, but I decided to let it go. I suspected she meant twenty-six and was only being smart with me.

"Alright, you!" Ping smiled slightly. " _Your_ turn again. Where are you from?"

"I was born in Nexus as I've already told you, but I was raised in the Imperial City," I paused. She looked annoyed, but she must have realized that I'd answered honestly.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Well, I was born on a ship. My mother was a weather witch and she never stayed in one place very long. Witches hop from ship-to-ship all of the time, at least in the places where women can sail. I didn't set foot on land myself until I was five years old. So, basically, I'm from _everywhere_. All over Creation... or at least the watery parts of it." Ping replied.

I eyed her suspiciously.

"Oh, don't give me that look! I swear it's true! My mother drank like you wouldn't believe! She had four husbands, and she dumped her illegitimates on every island in the West! I don't know why she kept me around. Probably figured that she could make rum money off my singing," Ping sighed heavily. "If I hadn't accidentally met one of my brothers floating in a mess of kelp off the coast of Skullstone, I would never have known that I had siblings at all... let alone _eleven_ of them! I sometimes tell people that my father was a Sealord. I like to imagine that at least one of my parents had good teeth and a surname _._ " She finished, wrinkling her nose slightly with obvious distaste

"I can't imagine growing up like that. My parents were very good to me. I was an only child and while we weren't especially wealthy, they sent me to an excellent school and found me a wonderful apprenticeship. I couldn't have asked for anything more."

"What's your real name?" Ping asked.

"You think I'm using an alias?"

She rolled her eyes. "Io, mio, dia, rillo... you know, Rivertongue?"

I'd never heard such a succinct appraisal of my native language. I laughed.

Ping crossed her arms and glared at me. I sighed heavily I would not get a better opportunity to tell Ping the truth. I had to be honest with her as I'd promised, and that meant confessing not only how I felt, but why I'd tried so hard to push her away from me. In a week we would land in Nexus, I would be on my way to my manse, and Ping to Great Forks. Quite possibly, we would never see each other again. If I truly wanted the two of us to stay together, I had to come clean _before_ Ping could simply run away. Maybe in our last few days at sea I could convince her that being Anathema didn't make me a monster.

"Ilumio," I replied. "Veritas."

Ping covered her mouth with a gasp. For a moment I thought that she knew my story from my name alone, but then she said something entirely unexpected. " _You're_ Veritas Ilumio? The jeweler? That big awful scandal?"

"You know about _that_?" I blinked in disbelief. The last thing I'd expected to hear from Ping was something that hadn't been news in more than five years.

"I'm a bard. Good stories turn into songs, you know," she admitted. "If I remember right, that one was called _the_ _Tinker's_ _Trial_ and you could hear it all over the place about four or five years ago. It was a fun little tune. Very anti-Realm, very controversial. Got me thrown out of _lots_ of bars."

"All right. So now you know my real name. May I have the pleasure of yours?" I smiled slightly.

"You don't believe it's Ping?" She grinned.

"I would, if you were a boy or a _duck,_ " I replied.

"Fair enough. It's not the best alias I've ever come up with," Ping laughed.

"That's not an answer to my question," I pointed out.

"Windswept Rhapsody," she replied.

" _You're_ Windswept Rhapsody?" I demanded.

"You thought I was fictional?" She teased.

"First you're one hundred years old, and now you're a legend? What happened to the two of us being honest with each other?" I demanded.

"When _you_ tell the truth, _I'll_ tell the truth!" Ping, or rather, "Rhapsody" snapped.

When I considered that name, I had to admit that it suited her much better than "Ping".

"What is that in your pocket that you keep fiddling with?" She asked. "I noticed it weeks ago, and it's been driving me mad!"

I sighed in defeat, and produced the pendant for her inspection.

Rhapsody gasped. "Oh, it's _beautiful!_ You made this?"

I nodded. "For you."

Her eyes widened as I placed the pendant in her hand and closed her fingers around it.

"It's so warm," she observed.

"It always will be," I nodded. When I crafted something using Essence, it never got cold the way ordinary metal did.

"How is that possible?" She asked, giving me a suspicious look.

"It's my turn to ask a question. And this is a difficult one. I've gone over it out several times in my head, and even still... I can't find the words."

"Veritas?" Rhapsody interrupted. It was lovely to hear her say my real name, but I didn't like the expression on her face at all. Her eyes were full of fear.

That was when I felt it. Something was approaching. The air smelled like sulphur, and the ship was rocking unnaturally. That came as a shock, mostly because the Ying Long wasn't as pathetic of a vessel as it appeared to be. All of the crab traps and old nets actually disguised a small Shogunate-Era warship that Jing Wei had stolen more than seventy years ago, and usually it weathered even the worst of storms with ease.

Up in the crow's nest, Matsu yelled something in Wavetongue and pointed. There was a ship on the horizon with green sails.

" _Lintha,_ " Rhapsody whispered.

I knew what the Lintha were. They were the bogeymen of many Western tales, and I'd heard no shortage of stories about the demon-worshippers of the far west since leaving the Blessed Isle. The Lintha were pirates, but other pirates feared them. They always sunk the ships they came in contact with, and their "loot" also included human beings. Some of those captured were be sold into slavery, and the rest were fed to the Malfean fiends that the Lintha summoned to tow their ships.

An unearthly howl sent everyone scrambling to their posts. The ship bucked underneath us, and Rhapsody caught hold of my arm moments before I would have flipped overboard. She heaved me to my feet with surprising strength, and I noticed a flicker of something blue and gold under the sleeve of her shirt. It was clearly an artifact of some kind, and I wondered why I had never seen it before.

Clinging to the railing, I stared down into the water. There was something coming towards us. I'd seen sharks, porpoises, and sea turtles, but not even the breaching whales that Rhapsody and I had spotted one morning were nearly as large as what was approaching the Ying Long.

"Father!" Matsu shouted. "They've released their demon!"

When I closed my eyes, I could see the demon beneath the waves, its aura a burning ball of green flame. I held out my left hand and focused, as if I would push it back with my mind.

It hesitated. I felt the demon stop.

"What happened?" Jing Wei demanded.

"It stopped," Matsu replied, staring in disbelief. "The demon _stopped_."

Rhapsody's eyes came to rest on me, and she covered her mouth with both hands. My Caste Mark wasn't burning, but she'd clearly realized that I was doing _something_. The demon slowly rose from the sea, almost capsizing us with the wave of water that it sloughed off, like a snake shedding its skin. It was taller than the largest ship I'd ever seen. When it emerged from the water, it looked like an enormous, inflated hammerhead shark with octopus arms and beady eyes surrounded by weeping pustules. The demon evaluated me with a harlequin grin and bared its uneven, yellow teeth. Noxious smoke poured from its nostrils.

Essence burned in my veins as I committed more raw power to my will. The demon drew back slightly. The Lintha ship was getting closer, and there was someone standing on the deck who looked like a sorcerer. The demon glanced nervously back in the direction of its master.

My heart hammered in my chest as the demon craned its neck and leaned over the deck of the Ying Long, close enough to touch me. Still, I held out my hand.

"What is he doing?" Tick demanded.

She wasn't talking about the demon. It was me that everyone had their eyes on.

"He's stopped it. He's holding it back," Rhapsody whispered in awe.

"Impossible!" Jing Wei protested. "You can't just _stop_ a demon!"

"Oh, he _can_ ," Rhapsody replied. There was conviction in her voice, and that strengthened me.

I was using Essence at an alarming rate. I could feel my Caste Mark beginning to flicker.

Fear struck me, and I stopped what I was doing before I realized what would happen when my concentration broke. The demon howled, and blasted us all with green flames. Everyone dove for cover. The sails burned like they were dipped in pitch. Tick shot at the demon several times with her firewands, but it didn't seem to notice the volley of rounds. The surly old quartermaster fell like a rag doll when it lashed out at her, and she slid down the stairs into the galley.

"Tick!" Matsu cried.

If she wasn't dead, she was badly injured.

Rhapsody's eyes darted around the deck, searching for something she could turn into a weapon. The two Dragonbloods worked elegantly in tandem. Matsu drew water up from the sea, and Jing Wei bent and redirected it, putting out the fire and pushing the demon back. It was an impressive effort, but it would not be enough.

I had to do something. Words in Old Realm flowed from my tongue, and my hands moved quickly through familiar patterns. Whatever I was doing was so natural to me that I could have done it in my sleep, but it was also taxing, particularly with the ship bucking and swaying, loose ropes whipping in my face and half of the deck still burning with green flames.

I could feel Essence bleeding from my body, visible and unmistakable. Golden light poured from my fingertips, coiling around the demon and constricting into an inescapable pattern of concentric circles. I felt strong resistance, but I would not hesitate again.

I raised my left hand just as I had before, and I pushed the demon with my will, but not just in the direction of the Lintha ship. I wanted it _gone_ , and I _knew_ that I could force it out of Creation.

"Back to Malfeas with you!" I ordered.

The bonds I had trapped the demon in constricted, and it exploded in burst of light as bright as the sun, leaving behind only a faint lingering cloud of sulfurous smoke.

The Ying Long steadied itself, and the Lintha ship immediately adjusted its course, running away. I took a deep breath and then started laughing like a madman. Nothing was funny about the situation, but I was deeply unsettled by the extent of my own power. I wasn't just using Charms I'd never practiced, I was working sorcery that Dragonbloods took decades to master!

While I was still marveling over how easily I'd banished the demon, Matsu seized the back of my shirt and tried to force me to the ground. I caught her in a tiger's mouth strike and reversed our positions. I knew from watching her tussle with the crew that she was an excellent wrestler... but she didn't try to break free of my grasp. She only stared at my Caste Mark, and her whole body went limp. She seemed to think that I was about to kill her.

Jing Wei set the bare blade of his sword against the back of my neck. "Let her go," he ordered.

I immediately released Matsu, and she leap to her feet, running to stand behind her father.

"Do _not_ attack me! I _will_ defend myself!" I warned.

"I knew there was something suspicious about you!" Jing Wei growled. "A demon right under my nose!"

"I'm not a demon!" I protested. "That _thing_ was a demon!"

"I should throw you overboard!" Jing Wei said. "You've been a snake on this ship since we left The Blessed Isle! Maybe you're in league with the Lintha?"

"No. _Never_ ," I stood up straighter. If my secret was revealed, there was _no_ _way_ that I was going to meekly accept such slander.

Jing Wei narrowed his eyes.

"I banished that demon to protect you," I paused. "I _like_ you! Do _not_ make me your enemy!"

Everyone stepped away from me as I went down to my cabin. Tick's nose was bleeding, but she was sitting upright at the foot of the galley stairs.

She stared up at me and swore incoherently.

"Are you alive?" I asked.

"Are you Anathema?" Tick asked.

"Don't call me that," I replied. It was the same thing as saying "yes".

"I'm alive," she replied. Using the stair railing, Tick heaved herself to her feet and staggered up to the deck.

The moment Tick was gone, Rhapsody seized my arm. I hadn't seen her coming, and I almost thought I was being attacked... at least, until she kissed me. For the first time, I didn't try to stop her. All of the frustration I'd been feeling melted away as our lips met. It was a beautiful moment, but I couldn't just allow myself to have what I wanted so desperately, not without some kind of explanation.

"Rhapsody, what are you doing?" I protested.

"You called me Rhapsody," she observed with a playful smile. "Mm. I want to kiss you again."

"You don't care that I'm Anathema _?_ " I demanded.

"Argh! Don't, just _don't_! I _hate_ that word!" Rhapsody groaned.

I froze. A number of things suddenly made sense in a way they never had before, and I realized what I'd been missing all along. It was more than coincidence that Rhapsody had found me, and despite my initial suspicions, she wasn't a Sidereal or a poorly-bred Dragonblood.

But she _was_ an Exalt.

I stared in shock. " _Impossible_ ," I said. No other word could encompass how I felr.

"Oh, Veritas! How is it that you can be _so_ _brilliant,_ and _so stupid_ at the same time?" Rhapsody sighed. Her eyes met my own, and suddenly it was very bright in that small room. The mark on her brow was perfectly round and blazed almost too fiercely to look at, but my eyes had long since become accustomed to such light. I couldn't remember what the Immaculate Order would have called one of her kind. It seemed irrelevant, and I knew it was something ugly and cruel.

Rhapsody was a Zenith Caste Solar, a priestess and prophet of the Unconquered Sun.

No words would come to me. I'd been so worried that I was alone in the world, the one Anathema who _wasn't_ a mad monster. Rhapsody took both my hands in hers, and we stared at one another for a long moment. I laughed despite myself. "So all this time, you and I have been dancing around the _same_ secret? It's a bit unbelievable."

" _You_ are unbelievable! And that word really means something, coming from a _fictional_ character such as myself!" Rhapsody smiled. "Veritas, if even _half_ of what I've heard so far is true, your legend will be catching up with mine soon enough!"

"I'm not sure I understand," I admitted.

"Well, I seem to recall a story about a rescue in Chio that involved a Solar blazing across the sky like a falling star? And a new song from Uzun about a dozen bandit monks tied to trees with their swords bent round their wrists?"

"There were only four monks! And I only tied up one with his sword!" I corrected.

"Bardic license. In a hundred years, there will be fifty monks!" Rhapsody warned.

I could not stop smiling. My mind was whirling with possibilities!

"What are you thinking about?" Rhapsody pressed.

"I've wanted to tell you since we met! Gods, I don't know why I hesitated for so long! It must have been because everyone loves you," I confessed.

"Everyone doesn't love _me!_ They love Ping. If Jing Wei saw me right now, he'd be threatening to throw both of us overboard!" She sighed heavily. "It's very hard to convince people that everything they've ever believed isn't true. And it doesn't help that there _are_ some Solars who give the rest of us a bad name. Reveal yourself, and be prepared to run. It's the price we pay for doing Heaven's work."

" _Entirely_ worth it," I replied.

"You know what?" Rhapsody grinned madly. "No more secrets! We've got two more weeks on this boat and we might as well make the most of them! You're already revealed..." She unbuttoned her sleeves and rolled them up to the elbow, revealing a pair of finely crafted orichalcum bracers, each with a sky blue hearthstone. She made a familiar gesture and whispered a short Charm I was certain I had once known. In a blaze of golden Essence, her sword appeared in her hand. "And now I am!"

"Isn't that the sword you sold to Matsu?" I blinked in surprise.

"Veritas, you've _no_ _idea_ how many times I've sold this sword," she informed me with a mischievous smirk. I stared at her exquisite bracers. I couldn't help myself.

"Might I?" I began.

"Oh no! No _tinkering!_ Not yet, anyway... although I _would_ like to see what's inside your cloak!" Rhapsody scolded me. "This is a _very_ important conversation we are having right now! You can fuss with my Discreet Essence Armor later if you want."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the pendant I made for her. "Help me tie this on, will you? I want to wear it."

"I'm glad you like it," I admitted.

"How could I not?" She laughed. "It's the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen!" She held the amulet "You really are too damned clever... and _such_ a gentleman. If you were just a little more assertive, you'd have women hanging all over you!" She proclaimed, clinging to me with melodramatic flair. The ship gave a lurch and I fell to the floor. I would have jumped to my feet, but Rhapsody had landed on top of me and seemed content to stay exactly where she was, her fingers idly tracing a line from my chin down my chest.

"You're _deadly_ with your flattery! One would suspect that you get anything you want!" I reprimanded her and she laughed.

"And if I do?" She taunted, poking my nose.

"Well then, I hope that you what you _want_ to move this conversation to my room. Because right now I think I am lying on a spoon!" I replied, coughing slightly.

"Oh no, is this your final scene?" Rhapsody. "We've only just found each other and now we must be parted by death?"

"I said I fell on a spoon. What makes you think that constitutes a fatal injury?" I sighed.  
"Bardic license?" She suggested.

We both laughed.

Strange as it might sound, being revealed as Anathema actually made the last weeks of my journey much more pleasant, and not just because Rhapsody and I were as close as I had hoped we could be.

As we approached Nexus, Godchaser's dying hearthstone began to glow. Since it no longer mattered who saw me for what I was, I used more Essence than I had dared to in months, ignoring the reactions of Jing Wei and his crew when I stepped out of my little kitchen with my Caste Mark still burning.

There was something oddly liberating about working in the open, especially with another Solar. Even the notoriously unpleasant Tick admitted that we were helpful when Rhapsody used Essence to heal her, and I repaired the damage the Lintha demon had done to our ship simply by laying my hands wherever they were needed.

When Godchaser woke for the first time in months, I almost couldn't believe that everything could work out so wonderfully. She blinked at me a few times, obviously groggy. I hoped that she hadn't suffered any permanent damage.

"Are we in trouble, Maker?" Godchaser wondered.

"No, we're not," I smiled slightly.

"Where are we?" She surveyed my little cabin in confusion.

"On a pirate ship," I told her.

"Ah. Why are we on a pirate ship?" Godchaser asked.

"Because we live here now. I'm the pirate's cook," I replied.

"Hunh. I thought you were a _bad_ cook," Godchaser admitted.

"Well, pirates are bad people. They're used to bad cooking!" I laughed.

"How long have I been asleep?" She wondered.

"Almost three months," I replied. "I was beginning to worry that you'd never wake up. But we're getting very close to Nexus and that seems to be helping your hearthstone."

"We're home!" Godchaser exclaimed. She wobbled for a moment, as if she wanted to leap into the air.

"Oh dear. Maker, I don't feel so good," she admitted uneasily.

"Don't try to hover! You should be very careful with the Essence I've given you." I informed her. "You're not in working order yet!"

"I think I need to go back to sleep now." Godchaser admitted.

"Can you hold on just a bit longer?" I asked. "There's someone I want you to meet."

I could scarcely contain myself as I burst out of the galley. "She's awake!" I exclaimed, not bothering to say who. Rhapsody's eyes lit up, and she immediately hopped down from her usual place up in the rigging.

Everyone had watched Rhapsody heal Tick, so they all knew what she was. I was very impressed with her ability to mend wounds just as I repaired metal. I learned that she had been a doctor for a time, the captain of a ship, and the owner of a traveling theater company. She was still the same shameless bard she had always been, but she was also so much _more_. A century seemed like an eternity to me, but I was beginning to understand that part of being a Solar was reinventing yourself over and over again. I could already say that I had been a jeweler, an Immaculate monk, a traveling tinker, a _cook_ , and a pirate. And _that_ was only in the past five years!

"Damned brilliant sailor she is. I'd love to keep her. A pity she's a demon," Jing Wei observed, watching Rhapsody slide down the ratlines as gracefully as if she were skating on ice.

"Rhapsody is _not_ a demon," I argued. It really didn't matter how many times I said that, but once we reached Nexus I knew I would have to hold my tongue. It was nice to get some of the general irritation out of my system, and to say out loud some of the shocking things I knew to be true.

Jing Wei snorted. "A woman like that? I was sure one of you was a demon when you climbed out of those damned salt barrels, and to be honest, I originally thought it was _her!_ The beautiful ones are _always_ demons," he remarked, smiling slightly. "The more irresistible a woman is, the more likely it is that she has snakes for fingers or a scorpion tail."

"Well, I haven't seen either of those things!" I replied.

"You've seen enough to be sure?" Jing Wei observed.

I didn't say yes or no, but the old pirate grinned. "You lucky dog. If I was fifty years younger I'd have you thrown overboard and take that woman of yours for myself. That is... if I didn't think she might steal my soul."

I had learned by then that Jing Wei didn't mean most of what he said. While he was not entirely comfortable having two Anathema on his ship, he was a man who kept his promises and he clearly wasn't much of a believer in Immaculate philosophy.

That was when Rhapsody reached the two of us. "Are you two _talking_?" She blinked in surprise.

"Of course not. I don't talk to sneaky stowaway Anathema who try to poison me with terrible cooking!" Jing Wei replied, turning around swiftly.

"And I don't talk to arrogant overgrown lizards who don't understand their _actual_ position in the Perfected Hierarchy!" I shot back as he stomped off.

"Ooh, that's a good one!" Rhapsody laughed. "So she's awake?"

I nodded. "Not for too long, but I want you to meet her."

Rhapsody followed me back through the galley. I slowly opened the door to my little room and peered inside. "Godchaser?" I called out. "Are you still with me?"

"Ugh, Maker!" She whined. "I'm _so_ exhausted!"

"It'll be best if you go back to sleep soon. But I have someone I want you to meet first. I promise it'll be quick," I replied, ushering Rhapsody into the room. "Rhapsody, this is Godchaser. Godchaser... Windswept Rhapsody."

"Oh." Godchaser remarked dryly. "I see what this is about. I've been replaced."

"You haven't been replaced, you ridiculous machine!" I laughed despite myself. "Rhapsody is a _person,_ not a construct!" Of course, as I said that, I remembered that Godchaser did not see our relationship the same way that I did. Put simply, she didn't think that _she_ was a construct either.

"Anything she can do, I can do better!" Godchaser snorted. "What is it with you and collecting dirty little people? You never used to have this problem!"

"Dirty!" Rhapsody gasped.

"I don't _collect_ people!" I protested... and then turned to Rhapsody whose expression was still more of a smile than a scowl. I had warned her that Godchaser could be abrasive, but it was obvious that she was impressed by how quick-witted she was and how very human she sounded, especially when she was being rude.

"She's not usually this unpleasant," I explained."She needs more sleep."

"I wouldn't need so much sleep if you would fix me, Maker!" Godchaser argued. "And I'm not being rude, I'm just stating a fact! Maker, you are _dirty_ and so is _this_ _girl_ _of_ _yours!_ This whole room is dirty! I have black stuff on me! And whatever it is, it's _gross_!"

"I really can't believe I'm hearing this!" Rhapsody laughed.

"I told you she was sophisticated," I replied.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not _here_!" Godchaser interrupted us.

"My apologies," Rhapsody replied. " _You_ are _brilliant_!" She informed Godchaser. "As are _you_!" She added, kissing me.

"Of course I am," Godchaser seemed to hesitate for a moment, evaluating me with a confused expression on her face, her gaze darting back and forth between Rhapsody and myself. "Maker." Godchaser paused. "There is a word... _words... word._ There is a word on your list that I can't say, but I think you know what it is, and I am wondering about it."

"Spit it out, Godchaser," I ordered.

"Your Caste Mark," She informed me. "Why is this girl kissing you if she can see it? Did you use a Charm on her?"

"Godchaser!" I scolded.

"Maker! It's an honest question!" She protested.

"How's this for an honest answer?" Rhapsody replied, illuminating her own Caste Mark.

Godchaser's demeanor immediately changed. "Oh! Oh, my goodness! Oh, Maker! Why didn't you tell me that you met another Solar?" Godchaser exclaimed. "Ak, the list! Stupid list! Sorry!"

"What's this list she's going on about?" Rhapsody wondered.

"I gave her a whole list of words that she's not supposed to say," I explained.

"And _Solar_ is one of those words?" Rhapsody put her hands on her hips.

"Well, obviously! You should hear how she goes on and on sometimes! It's like being lectured by a... _priest._ " I fell silent.

Her Caste Mark still burning, Rhapsody stared at me very gravely with her arms folded across her chest. Godchaser hovered behind her.

"No, I have _nothing_ against priests!" I held my hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I just want to keep myself from getting _killed_ if someone heard her rambling!"

"You should hear some of the things he says!" Godchaser informed Rhapsody. "He's horrible! He says that A-word! "

"I've been _trying_ to get off of the Blessed Isle! And as I'm sure you know, that's extremely difficult!" I protested. I'd been so excited to introduce Rhapsody to Godchaser that I hadn't even stopped to consider what might happen if the two of them actually got along. I'd created a monster!

"What else did he tell you not to say?" Rhapsody pressed, ignoring me.

"Caste Mark. It's two words, but I'm supposed to treat it like one. Solar, Exalted, Chosen, Essence, Twilight, _Charm_ , Sorcerer, _Sorcery_... Oh there's lots more! He keeps adding words. Every time we get in trouble, _"_ Godchaser paused, observing the sour expression on my face. Rhapsody didn't look very happy about what she was hearing either, but I gathered that it was because she sympathized with Godchaser rather than me. "He didn't even want me to call him "Maker". He said that he didn't make me, that I came from Malfeas! And then he threatened to take me apart! And I'm not supposed to laugh! Never!"

"You were trying to _hide_ just like all of the others! What happened to living resolutely?" Rhapsody turned to me with her hands on her hips. "What happened to " _It's_ _entirely_ _worth_ _it_ "? Did you mean anything you said?"

"Yes, _everything_! Rhapsody, Godchaser is _really_ exaggerating and she has been unconscious for _months_! She doesn't know that I..." I fell silent, not sure of how to say what I meant.

Godchaser blinked in surprise. "I've missed something?"

"You've missed more than I can tell you about now," I sighed in defeat. "But we're going to need to have a long talk when you're well again."

"I am tired," Godchaser admitted, wavering a little. "Take good care of my Maker." She turned to Rhapsody. "He needs someone to take care of him."

"Oh, I will!" Rhapsody promised. She rested her chin on my shoulder and jabbed me hard in the ribs.

"I can go back to sleep now?" Godchaser asked.

"Yes," I told her.

Hearing a shout from up on deck, Rhapsody suddenly jumped to her feet. "Uhoh, I'll be back!" She informed me. "And don't think you can avoid explaining yourself! We're still trapped on this ship for three more days!" She said before darting out the door. I turned to Godchaser who was slowly settling back down into inactivity.

"I like Merela," Godchaser murmured.

"Who?" I asked.

"Mm... _Rhapsody_. _Her_. I like her," Godchaser replied.

"That's good. I like her too," I smiled slightly. "Hang in there, will you? We're almost home."

" _Home,_ " She echoed with a sigh of contentment. It was the last thing she said.

I wished I'd had the chance to tell Godchaser about my epiphany before she returned to sleep, but there was too much I wanted to say. The whole story would have to wait. I watched her faintly flickering hearthstone. Port Calin was already within sight. After Jing Wei unloaded some of his cargo, we'd be on our way upriver. I was only a few days away from my final destination. I still didn't know what I would find in Nexus, but I had a great deal of hope... and I knew that had to count for something.

When we finally arrived in Nexus, it was pouring down rain. Jing Wei gruffly saw us on our way. Matsu actually hugged Rhapsody, and to my surprise, the old pirate offered me his hand.

We shook. "I'm still not sure how I feel about this," he admitted.

"Making friends with Anathema?" I suggested.

"Who said we were friends?" He retorted, although not without a smile on his face.

I had a feeling that we would meet again.

Rhapsody found us accommodations at a seedy inn just outside of Harlotry, which was the "entertainment" district of the city. We spent two days there. Rhapsody played nightly for the patrons of the An-Tang Princess and I fixed a few small things, both of us intent on hiding from the ferocious storm outside which had filled all the city's streets with water.

The sun finally peeked out around midday on our third day in Nexus. Rhapsody and I went on a walk down to the docks, taking in the sight of all the ships that were coming in. I found it somewhat peculiar that she'd insisted we check out of our place of residence and take all of our belongings... but as we came uncomfortably close to a ship called "the Ocean Pearl", I realized that was because she was leaving.

"Where are you going?" I blinked in surprise, not sure when she'd managed to slip away and book passage. Why hadn't she said anything?

"On to Great Forks!" She nodded. "That was always my destination," she reminded me.

"But so soon?" I protested. "I thought... well, I was hoping we might find my manse first. It can't be very far from here."

Rhapsody sighed. "I wish I didn't have to go so quickly, but I last night I heard that my Mate had a nasty run-in with someone we both _really_ dislike," she explained. I did not doubt that the situation was far more complicated than she made it sound. In any case, the name she'd spoken sounded strangely familiar to me. I suspected she'd mentioned it before.

"Your what?" I blinked in disbelief. "You're married?"

"No! It's not like that! Clever Devil is my Lunar Mate," Rhapody clarified, though those words meant nothing to me. I knew that Lunars were a kind of Anathema, like Solars... but it had never occurred to me that they might be similarly misrepresented by the Realm and the Immaculate Order. "Every Solar in Creation was made with a Lunar match," Rhapsody explained. "The Gods forged us in pairs. Think of it like yin and yang. Your Lunar is meant to balance you. Some Solars married their Lunars, but not all of them. Devil and I are like sisters. I've known her since I Exalted. She's saved my life more than once," she explained. "She's the only family I have. Oh, I'm sure all of my brothers and sisters have great-grandchildren by now, but they probably think I'm mythical. Like you did when we met," She sighed heavily.

I nodded. As much as it pained me to see Rhapsody go, I'd run all the way to Nexus for Godchaser's sake. How could I hold it against Rhapsody for traveling a hundred miles further to help someone she'd known for a century?

"Once Clever Devil is safe, and the bastard who's after her is up for audit, I'll be back." Rhapsody promised. "And when you meet my good twin, I _promise_ you'll understand why I had to help her! If you stop out for a drink occasionally, listen for new Windswept Rhapsody songs. That's how I send messages to my people so they know what I'm up to," she explained.

"But when you come back, will you stay?" I pressed.

"Of course! Nexus is fabulous! This town throws the best Calibration party in all Creation and that's only a few months away! I _never_ miss it!" Rhapsody replied.

"I meant, will you stay with me?" I sighed heavily.

"Oh, Sun-in-Glory! That look on your face is too pathetic for words!" She took my hands in hers. "Veritas, I'm a restless soul. I was born for the long road, and I've got many more miles to go before I can settle down. But I will _always_ come back. I may be blown by the wind, but I also wear my heart on my sleeve. If I make you a promise, I mean it. And if I say that I love you, it's because I do."

Though clearly heartfelt, Rhapsody's confession didn't make me feel much better. I was still dwelling on the fact that she was leaving.

"Last call for Great Forks!" A sailor shouted.

Rhapsody kissed me and slowly drew away, waving to the sailor. A well-dressed man who looked like the captain of the ship bowed dramatically as Rhapsody came aboard and I smiled despite myself. Did he realize who had just come aboard his ship? Knowing Rhapsody had changed me as it changed everyone who met her... for the better. At very least, I did plan on keeping an ear out for her new songs. Belatedly, I wondered she'd meant by "audit". It sounded like a strange kind of bureaucratic punishment. It also made me think of Sidereals. I would have asked Godchaser about it, but I didn't want to wake her.


	13. Chapter 12 - The Fountain (Veritas)

**Chapter** **12**

 **The** **Fountain**

After Rhapsody's ship departed, I decided to ask for directions to Glassmaker's Row, the working-class neighborhood in which I'd been born. Though I still wasn't entirely satisfied with Rhapsody's reasons for leaving me, I knew there was no sense in chasing after her.

She'd Exalted over a century ago and knew much more about being a Solar than I did. I was sure she could easily evade me if she chose to. I had to trust that Rhapsody would come back as she'd promised, and until she did... it was high time that I focused on some of the things that I needed to accomplish myself. Godchaser was still counting on me.

When I finally did reach Glassmaker's Row, nothing at all looked familiar. The buildings were of the typical Nexus style, with whitewashed walls and tile roofs. They had a tendency to grow larger with each upper floor. Landlords were charged taxes according to the size of their property, but only the ground floors were ever measured. Every building looked precarious, and the shoddy repairs that the residents had done to their bridges and stairs made me cringe. The gray sky was almost completely obscured by trade signs and clotheslines full of laundry.

Because of all of the smelting which took place in the Nighthammer District, the water of the Gray River that threatened to pour over its swollen banks glistened like mercury. All around I heard hacking and coughing in the noxious fog, and as I scanned the crowd for familiar faces, I noticed that a great many people had eyes that were red and runny or skin that looked jaundiced.

Clearly, some sort of illness was afoot, and that didn't surprise me in the least, not when the water looked so awful. I had almost decided to head back to the An-Tang Princess when I reached an open piazza lined with glass shops. In the center of the piazza was an enormous white marble fountain. I stared with my jaw dropped in disbelief. I knew that fountain, and not from any childhood memory!

 _It_ _was_ _my_ _water-purification_ _machine!_

The feeling that washed over me as I came forward and touched that stone was impossible to describe. As Godchaser had so often professed, I finally felt as though I'd come _home_ , but not to the place of my childhood. I was following the path that my past previous incarnation had blazed, and I'd stumbled upon the first marker that I remembered. For being more than fifteen hundred years old, the marble pieces had fared remarkably well, but all of the metal parts had fallen off or been stolen.

"Ahem?"

I turned slowly. Behind me stood an old man dressed in green with no hair at all on his head and a single enormous white eyebrow. He had very blue eyes and wore a little pair of glass spectacles as well as smile that was notably full of good teeth. The top of his head barely reached my chin. As suddenly as he'd appeared, I immediately suspected that he might be a God... or a Sidereal.

"It used to be fountain," the old man explained. "It could heal anyone who drank from it, and it saved many in this city during the Great Contagion."

"I know," I nodded.

"A scholar of history, are you?" The old man observed.

"I dabble in a little of everything," I replied.

"As do I," the old man laughed. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Doctor Fabian Basha."

"Veritas Ilumio," I replied, giving him my real name for some fool reason. We shook.

"So do you think the fountain can be repaired?" I asked.

"Impossible. Many pieces are missing. And to be honest, no one really knows what it's supposed to look like," Doctor Basha admitted.

"Why not ask a sorcerer then? Or a priest?" I suggested, though I could already guess his answer.

"The Heptagram won't send someone if there's no money to be had. And the Immaculate Order considers Glassmaker's Row to be a nest of thieves and heretics."

"So supposing that someone _could_ fix this fountain... is there a place near here where they could work? In private," I added.

Doctor Basha eyed me suspiciously. "Perhaps. Go on," he said.

I lowered my voice to a whisper. "I have a friend who is a... thamaturge," It was a word used for mortals who could control Essence to a small degree. They made charms and cast little spells, but they were not true sorcerers. It was like comparing an Exalted master of Water-Dragon Style to a novice monk. "But he's in a bit of trouble with the law," I added.

"Ah," the old man observed. "Did you kill someone?" He asked, sounding remarkably casual.

"No! I'm not the..." I sighed in defeat. "Damnit!"

Doctor Basha smiled slightly, obviously amused by my reaction. "You're a terrible liar. But are are you a murderer?"

"I'm not a monster," I rolled my eyes. "Why would you even assume that?"

"Well, this is Nexus. If you're on the run, you either killed someone or stole something," he replied. "Or ran off with a rich man's wife."

"No!" I protested. "Really, why does everyone always assume that I'm having some kind of sordid affair?"

"Very well, so what _did_ you do?" He demanded.

"I took back something which was actually stolen from me, rescued a girl that everyone seems to think I kidnapped, and embarrassed several important people," I finished. Any lie I made up would have sounded hollow, and as Rhapsody had professed, the true story of what had happened to me was already far too impossible for anyone to believe.

Doctor Basha laughed out loud. "Heh. So that's it, and now you're a fugitive? Are you sure you're not a hero? This story of yours sounds like a Tale of the Wandering Monk!"

I smiled slightly. "It does, doesn't it?"

"I don't believe a word of it," he replied.

I realized belatedly that over the course of our conversation the two of us had reached a storefront with the Rivertongue characters for "Doctor" and "Medicine" painted above the windows. The old man stepped inside with surprising agility and very nearly slammed his door in my face. My hands were quick enough that I managed to stop him from closing it completely.

"What if I showed you _everything_ first? What if I showed you _exactly_ how I would fix the fountain?" I pressed.

"All right," Doctor Basha relented. "I must admit, I am curious. But if you're not the genius you claim to be, I will call for the Night Watch and have you arrested!"

He let me inside. We went to sit in a study filled with herbs, musty old books, and a terrifying life-sized wooden mannequin made to show all of the important points for acupuncture. The old man brought me a thick stack of paper and four sharp pencils. I started working immediately, drawing each piece of my water-purification machine and explaining what purpose it served.

When I was finished nearly an hour later, I put my pencil down and turned to Doctor Basha who was slowly paging through my sketches with a look of absolute awe on his face.

"This is... beyond genius," he paused. "It's... magnificent. I don't understand half of how it works, but I believe that it _could_ work. Dragons be praised, it _could_ work! But..." he paused. "I don't think any foundry in Nexus could cast these parts for you."

"I'll cast them myself," I replied. I'd never made anything so large before, at least not in my present life, but I couldn't resist the opportunity. My fingers itches at the thought of creating something truly spectacular, something that was actually a fair test of my skill.

"You do realize that no one will pay you for this. They'd love to see it done, but they won't believe you can do it. Mortals simply don't repair artifacts. That's the business of proper Exalted sorcerers, not petty thamaturges." Doctor Basha said.

"And if I was a sorcerer?" I asked the old man.

"It's heresy to pose as a Prince of the Earth," he reminded me.

"Feh. I don't want to be mistaken for a lizard anyway," I rolled my eyes.

I realized belatedly that I shouldn't have said such a thing. Verbally sparring with Jing Wei, I'd gotten comfortable lobbing insults at a Dragonblood... a habit that could prove very dangerous in the future.

"I think I am beginning to understand why you are a wanted man," Doctor Basha smiled slightly. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

I caught a whiff of a familiar smell wafting in our direction from what I guessed was the doctor's kitchen. It was a dish of spiced rice that my mother had often made when I was a child, a beloved culinary specialty of the Scavenger Lands.

"Absolutely!" I agreed.

I stayed with Doctor Basha for several weeks, earning enough money to purchase the supplies I would need to make the journey to my manse. Godchaser was seldom awake and even more rarely lucid, but she was excited to hear that I was fixing my water-purification machine. Because the landscape had changed so much over the past centuries, Godchaser couldn't actually explain to me where I needed to go. Still, I'd heard numerous stories about a deadly "demon tomb" two days south of Nexus. It seemed like a good place to start.

Though Godchaser's hearthstone had been glowing steadily since our arrival in Nexus, it still failed to provide her with even a fraction of the Essence she needed to function. My work on the fountain went more slowly than I would have liked, with the amount of energy that I regularly had to commit to my companion.

Fortunately, Doctor Basha had provided me with all of the tools and most of the mundane materials I needed in addition to a private place to work, a seldom-used guest room on the second floor of his house. My host often watched me suspiciously when we went out together to take our afternoon meal. He often commented that I seemed to know " _a_ _bit_ _too_ _much_ _about_ _everything"_ and asked if I had ever considered a professorship at Nexus's famed University.

Doctor Basha was a graduate of the School of Medicine himself, and knew almost everyone on the staff. Together we went to several lectures given by a historian called Valen Riverborn who was supposively one of the world's greatest experts on First Age artifacts. Professor Riverborn stammered frequently and fumbled through his papers as he gave his presentations, which made it somewhat difficult to follow where he was going when he changed subjects, which he did frequently.

Not that I minded. Nothing he spoke on was particularly exciting. Clearly, Professor Riverborn was very worried about the dozen Immaculates who regularly sat in the front row of his lecture hall.

His assistant, who went by the name of Sapphire, or sometimes "Sapphire the Heretic" was another matter entirely. She never dressed appropriately for University functions, always covered in dirt and lamp oil with her firewands on her hips. While her mentor was lecturing, she picked her teeth with a knife and when he asked for questions, she would immediately propose something so controversial that I sometimes gasped in shock myself. Although Sapphire wasn't the beauty that Rhapsody was, she was the kind of woman I'd always found attractive, intelligent and outspoken, even if she was a bit more brash than I preferred.

I considered asking Sapphire to join me for tea just to hear some more of her very good theories about life in the High First Age, but as I was about to introduce myself, I caught her with a female student in the corridor, the two of them in a position which needed no explanation.

After that encounter, Doctor Basha and I rarely went to Professor Riverborn's lectures. Though Sapphire didn't seem ashamed to see us seated in the audience, we both found her presence to be very distracting.

Still, I was beginning to like Nexus. I didn't stand out amongst its citizens as I had in the Imperial City. Everyone spoke Rivertongue, and at least a dozen other languages. Pale skin and fair hair were commonplace, as were names like Claudius, Brevis, and Notissima. Although my Rivertongue did carry a slight High Realm accent, I looked like a native... and my name suggested that I was one.

More importantly, there were a great many artisans and intellectuals with whom I could easily associate. A number of them were Dragonblooded, but they were mostly Outcastes like Jing Wei, not Dynasts, which meant that they were somewhat less inclined to lord their middling status over everyone else.

There were also foreigners of every variety, from as far away as Halta, Gem, Whitewall, Chiarascuro, and Wavecrest, in addition to hordes of little Gods, ghosts and beastmen, most of them from the surrounding countryside. Despite what the Immaculate Order might claim about the necessity of hierarchy, the diverse and disorganized populace of Nexus seemed to thrive. There were even supposively also a handful of "civilized fae" in the city... although I was still unsure of how I felt about them.

Nexus was permanently flooded, not only with water that smelled like sewage but also with rules and regulations that were never enforced. All merchants were supposed to hold permits before selling their wares and yet every day as the Market Patrol began their rounds, dozen of "honest" businessmen went running off to hide under the Bridge of Whispers where the city's officials knew better than to look for them. Rude, crude and violent – the city was all of those things... and yet it never really threatened to tear itself apart at the seams as the Imperial City so often did. Too many warring factions had created an environment that didn't really have "oppressors" or "oppressed".

The official ruler of Nexus was called "the Emissary". Whether he had truly been in power for more than seven hundred years – or whether his was a title secretly passed down from one "Emissary" to the nest was a subject of much contention. An often whispered-about but seldom seen personage, he had created a simple set of three "Laws" that were the central inviolable tenants of Nexus's labyrinthine legal system.

The first Law was that Nexus would have no standing army, nor suffer one to be brought inside of her gates. Mercenaries flooded the city regularly, but they were seen as honest businessmen rather than tools of oppression. The second Law was that no one would be permitted obstruct trade in Nexus. I didn't understand the specific context of the code, but the penalties were notoriously severe. The third Law was that anyone from any land who resided in Nexus and built up a good business as a free man or woman would become a citizen, even if they had formerly been a fugitive. They would be protected under the city's laws and would not be returned to any oppressive authority, not the feudal lords that they had run from or even the Realm. I began tracking the days of my own residency... although I expected that Law did not actually apply to Anathema. It did not seem that anyone from the Blessed Isle was still looking for me. They would come eventually, I knew, but by that time I hoped to be ready for them.

The members of the Guild, particularly those who belonged to the Council of Entities were the true authority, at least on a day-to-day basis. Theirs was an organization not confined to any one trade or profession, but an amalgamation of all sorts of merchants and other professionals, both old money and new. Even Doctor Basha was a member of an unimportant sub-chapter of the Council of Acupuncturists, Apothecaries, and Doctors of Medicine. Though I had asked him not to tell anyone that I was staying with him, he appropriated some of my work and passed it along to a friend of his.

I quickly became the most desirable unaffiliated artisan of Glassmaker's Row. I received invitations to dozens of parties, and more than a few organizations approached me directly, hoping that I would support their faction. When I declined a prestigious invitation to join the Council of Jewelers and Watchmakers, my host became suspicious of me. Although I could see the benefits of belonging to the organization, if I got involved in merchant politics someone from the Imperial City would surely recognize me. As Rhapsody had pointed out, the "legend" of Veritas Ilumio was already a dangerous thing.

Personally, I was already somewhat nervous about the pieces of my work that Doctor Basha had "borrowed" to show off to his friends. Though most had been returned before I knew they were missing, one of them had mysteriously vanished. While the cost of the metal alone was enough to annoy me, the fact that the missing item was a circlet adorned with a sun that resembled the one I had designed for Rhapsody's necklace made its disappearance all the more unsettling. I was told in no uncertain terms that my work had sparked the interest of an influential merchant called Saturnyne who had passed it along to someone very high-ranking on the Council of Entities. In short, I'd never see it returned.

As I became progressively more reclusive, the steady supply of materials provided by Doctor Basha that I had enjoyed for my first few weeks in the city had dwindled to a trickle and then stopped altogether. Godchaser's hearthstone began fluctuating again, and when I ran out of metal for my work on the fountain I decided that it was time for me to finish my journey and head to my manse.

The evening before I meant to make my intentions known, I had trouble sleeping. It was sometime after dawn when I heard the sound of my door opening, not soon enough for me to hide Godchaser, who looked nothing at all like a cloak. She was awake and nagging me for hands again, poking me with her tendrils and bopping me with her mask in the most irritating way possible. Truthfully, I suspected that she would get into a lot of trouble if I did build her hands... but she never asked me for anything else. Her very aspiration was to help me however she could.

"Doctor Basha!" I gasped as my host stepped into my room. My glasses fell off my nose. I scrambled for them, and then moved towards the window, trying to hide Godchaser behind me with very little success.

"Uh oh!" Godchaser blinked owlishly, floating up over my head.

"I knew I heard you talking to someone. _Again_ ," he added, his gaze drifting towards Godchaser. "What is that? A machine?"

"I'm not a machine!" Godchaser protested.

"I can explain!" I knew those words sounded idiotic the moment I spoke them. When I caught sight of my own reflection in my window, I realized that my Caste Mark was clearly visible.

"Actually, I'm a very bad liar," I sighed in defeat.

"I know. And that's strange for one of your breed," Doctor Basha paused. "But in fact, that was the first thing I noticed about you. I have a little Charm that tells me if you're lying. I used it on you when you first explained your plan to fix the fountain."

"Well, I've evaded some questions that were... incriminating, but I haven't lied," I replied.

"I know. That's why I can't decide what to do with you," he replied, amazingly calm and collected considering the circumstances.

"I suppose you're going to turn me over to the authorities?" I suggested. What I couldn't fathom was why the Doctor Basha hadn't already called for the Night Watch.

"This is Nexus. The authorities are worthless. I want you to answer a few questions for me, now that I know what you are. I noticed that you weren't working on the fountain. Are you really going to finish it?"

"Right now I can't." I admitted. "I want to, but I need tools I don't have and... well, orichalcum! There are a few parts that need to be particularly responsive to my Essence, and orichalcum is the only thing I can think to make them out of. I told you in the beginning that I would cast my own parts."

"Do you have a way of doing that?" He asked.

"Yes, actually," I paused, deciding not to tell him about my manse. "I was planning on leaving tomorrow. When I have what I need, I'll come back to finish what I started."

"Why?" Doctor Basha wondered.

"Because it's right," I replied. "And I suppose it's kind of my redemption?"

That thought disturbed me. In the beginning, I'd thought that I needed to repent for whatever I'd done that had caused me to become Anathema. Although I'd come to understand that I wasn't really cursed, sometimes I still felt as though I should be doing penance. I was sure that I had done something very wrong a long time ago... and I knew that my current position was the direct result of my past failures. I _did_ need to make amends. I just didn't know _why_.

Godchaser snorted. I glared at her, and she settled down onto the table, doing her best impression of an inanimate object. "Ignore her. Godchaser has a very inflated opinion of me," I explained. "She doesn't believe I'm capable of making mistakes."

"But you really want to be redeemed?" Doctor Basha wondered suspiciously. "In the eyes of whom?"

"I don't know, the Dragons?" I suggested. Those words sounded stupid the moment I spoke them. I'd never put much faith in the Dragons. Even when I was a monk, I'd only ever prayed when I was being watched.

"You're Anathema!" Doctor Basha protested. "Why should you care what the Dragons think?"

"Well, for what it's worth... I used to be an Immaculate monk," I sighed heavily. "I'm a great believer in law and order."

That was true, although Doctor Basha did not seem to believe me. "And yet you didn't turn yourself in to the authorities?" he pressed.

"Why? Because I'm _infected_? Possessed by a demon?" I snorted. Belatedly, I realized I probably should have spoken with a little less venom.

"Oh?" Doctor Basha raised an eyebrow in my direction.

I sighed heavily. "Doctor, you're an Essence user yourself! What if the Realm decided that mortal Essence users were the enemies of all Creation? I never made a deal with any Malfean fiend. I am what I am. Use your Charm on me if you like. I'll say it again. I'm _not_ a demon. In fact, I _hate_ demons! I'm an Exalt. Like a Dragonblood," I paused, grimacing at my own comparison. "The Immaculate Order hunts us because they're afraid. They know they're inadequate. They can't do what we can. They never could... that's why so much of the world is in ruins! It's really amazing that the Dragonbloods have been able to rule at all! They make it sound like they are the gods' perfect anointed children, but they're not even _allowed_ in Heaven! And Sun-in-Glory, they shouldn't _touch_ sorcery! They've no idea how it actually works! Of course, when it comes to fixing things, well... you might as well give a monkey a hammer! Oh, I'm sorry. That just came out there, didn't it?"

Doctor Basha looked worried.

I wasn't entirely sure what I'd just said. At some point, words started pouring out of me. The way I'd learned my Charms, and the vision I'd had about building Godchaser had left me convinced that I _could_ tap into the memories of my previous incarnation. I'd never done so quite as "vocally" before. Dragonbloods weren't allowed in Heaven? They didn't understand sorcery? What nonsense was I talking about?

Fortunately, Doctor Basha didn't ask me to elaborate. We watched one another in silence for a long moment. "If you had the choice, would you chose to be mortal?" He asked. He stared at Godchaser.

At first I thought she was staring back at him, but then I realized that her eyes had gone dark. She was asleep again. Despite my best efforts, she wouldn't stay conscious for more than fifteen minutes at a time, and I was still struggling with the best way to tell her that she'd been right about everything from the very beginning.

I hesitated. I suspected that Doctor Basha wouldn't like my answer, and I considered lying to him, at least until I remembered that he knew a Charm which would react to my deception. "No," I admitted truthfully.

What would I do if I stopped being what I was? Not that I believed it was possible, but if I could go back... would I? I'd never seriously asked myself that question before. If not for the power I possessed, so many of the things that I'd done in the past months would have been far beyond my ability. The conniving little gods that I'd come to love wouldn't be banging on my windows at night, singing my praises as they tried to weasel me into working for them. Like characters in a Tale of the Wandering Monk, Godchaser, Rhapsody, and all of my new friends would vanish from my life. But what I could not turn my back on was the feeling that swept over me every time I looked out at the setting sun.

 _I_ _was_ _needed._

"Never," I finished.

Doctor Basha said nothing at all, but only watched me with a strange expression on his face. "Never?" He echoed incredulously. "But you're hunted, loathed, and..."

I picked up the battered watch lying on my worktable and held it out for Doctor Basha's examination. When he leaned closer and adjusted his glasses, I compelled the device to dismantle. He gasped as I spun the tiny gears in midair, and almost fell over as I quickly reassembled the watch with a single word of command.

"I'm very ambitious, Doctor. Too ambitious to be a monk."

We stared at one another again as he slowly absorbed everything I had said.

"So are you going to let me go, or must I knock you unconscious?" I picked up Godchaser and the set of tools that I'd cobbled together working various odd jobs throughout Glassmaker's Row.

Doctor Basha stepped away from the door. "I'm going to let you go," he laughed slightly. "And I'm also going to let you come back. I'll leave a spare key under the geraniums by the back door. Of course, if you ever... well, do Anathema need medical care?"

"Not usually," I admitted. After everything I'd been through completely unscathed, I knew that much was true.

"The offer still stands," he chuckled. "My, I must really be flirting with damnation this evening!"

"I appreciate you giving me this chance. You won't be disappointed," I promised.

"Of course I won't be disappointed! I'll be a dead if anyone finds out," Doctor Basha laughed. I never thought I'd say this to a demon... but hurry back. And thank you."

"For what?" I wondered.

"For all of the things you've yet to do." He glanced at Godchaser. "Do you fuel that construct with your own Essence every night?"

"Only since her hearthstone failed. It lets her regulate the Essence she already has. Without it, she just bleeds dry," I admitted.

"That's madness! How much Essence do you have?" He demanded.

"I'm not sure I can run out," I admitted. "Although when I use a lot... it is _very_ obvious."

"So I've heard. A pillar of light reaching straight up to Heaven? Parts of the anima coming to life and changing shape?" He suggested. "Is that accurate?"

"More or less," I smiled slightly.

"Dear me. I'm very glad we're friends," Doctor Basha laughed.

"Me too," I replied, putting up my hood.

He watched me as I left, a faint smile on his face.

"Maker?" Godchaser whispered when we had almost reached the city's gates. "There is something you should know."

"What is it, Godchaser?" I asked.

"Your friend the doctor?" She paused. "He's a Sidereal."


	14. Chapter 13 - Luna's Chosen (Veritas)

**Chapter 13**

 **Luna's Chosen**

I ran as fast as my legs would take me back to Doctor Basha's house, despite Godchaser's protests. When I arrived, I was stunned to find the business abandoned, probably for many years. The flowers on the back porch were dead, and there was no key. I woke some of the neighbors and demanded to see the doctor, but no one seemed to know who he was.  
Although Doctor Basha had been very kind to me, his disappearance reminded me all too clearly of Himitsu's, and I shuddered to think what sort of malevolent plots he might have been hiding behind his smile. Was I the only person in Creation capable of remembering a Sidereal when I encountered one? I was beginning to believe that was the case.  
Still unable to access most of her records, all that Godchaser could tell me was that Doctor Basha was something called a "Chosen of Serenity" and that she had not known for certain until he used a Charm in her presence. Despite how the innocuous the name sounded, such Sidereals were not necessarily any nicer than the sort I'd already encountered. In a futile attempt to calm me down, Godchaser also emphasized that not _all_ Sidereals were bad. They were like bureaucrats, she explained, usually corrupt because that was the nature of their profession... but some of them did truly believe in helping people.

One thing was obvious, however. I had no choice but to move on.

With Godchaser's somewhat incoherent directions, and a good amount of food and supplies, I felt confident enough to undertake the last leg of my long journey. Pressed on by my desire to fix my companion once and for all and my promise to Doctor Basha, even if he was a Sidereal... I walked south for almost a whole day at a madman's pace, not bothering to stop for water or meals.

Just as the sun was setting and I was preparing make camp, I heard the sound of people approaching. Not an army, thankfully, but definitely more than a dozen men. Before I could find somewhere out of sight to hide, a hand seized the hood of my cloak, and lifted me clear off of my feet.

"Put me down, you barbarian!" I ordered, kicking air.

Whoever had seized me did not oblige, but turned me very slowly to face him.

My captor was a scarred Southern thug dressed in blue lamellar, almost twice as tall as I was.

"Put him down," a familiar voice ordered.

The thug set me on my feet as his companions, a large pack of beastman and mortals emerged from the forest. Their leader, the one who had spoken on my behalf, was an enormous silver lion-man with striking blue eyes. Strange, swirling tattoos covered his whole body and he wore no clothing at all, save for a silver bracelet of a peculiar geometric design that immediately made me think of Godchaser. The lion-man stared down at me with a troubling expression on his face. He motioned for his followers to give the two of us space and set his enormous paw on my shoulder. I didn't pull away.

"So we meet again," he said in perfect Old Realm, his bass voice touched with something like a purr. Despite the language he spoke in, I wasn't sure that he knew I understood him... and so I decided to give nothing away.

"What brings you down this road?" He pressed, switching to Rivertongue.

"My own business," I replied in the same. "Kindly let me pass."

"It is growing dark," The lion-man argued.

"I don't care," I replied. "I'm almost home."

"There is no village for many miles," he informed me.

"I'm on the way to my estate," I lied, choosing a word that sounded less incriminating than "manse". Anyone could have an estate. Manses were naturally occurring wellsprings of Essence, and only Exalts had them. A particular Essence source could only be attuned to a single individual, which made a powerful manse a very desirable commodity. I did not remember my manse at all, but according to Godchaser, it usually provided her with the enormous amount of Essence she needed to function. I could also draw off the Essence myself, which would make it possible for me to complete much larger projects than I could using only what was in my own body.

"Is over there the "estate" that you speak of?" The lion-man smiled slightly, gesturing in the direction of my pack and the pile of wood I'd gathered to make a fire. "Perhaps your formidable castle might shelter my great army for the night?" He gestured to his followers, which numbered ten beastmen and a dozen unsavory-looking mortals. Although the big Southerner who had grabbed me looked very much like an Imperial soldier, the rest were dressed in a combination of old leather and patched southern silks. I suspected they were probably bandits. They all laughed.

As I saw it, I didn't have the option to refuse. I didn't own the woods I'd taken shelter in any more than I owned the road or the river that ran alongside it. The bandits immediately set about pitching their camp literally on top of mine and building my little campfire into a beacon of flame that could doubtless be seen for miles. Clearly, they weren't afraid of the armies of the Realm.

"So, Lord Silvermane... I take it we're not robbing this lost little noble?" One of the men asked.

 _Silvermane._ The name suited him. I was certain I'd heard it before.

"No," Silvermane replied. "On the contrary. He is now under our protection."

"What? Why?" The Southerner demanded.

"I don't need your protection!" I retorted.

"You do!" Silvermane replied with certainty, not raising his voice even as I snapped at him. "More than you realize, Lawgiver!"

I froze as he spoke that sobriquet. All of Silvermane's men watched me in disbelief, their eyes briefly darting back to their leader as if they expected one of us would say something very important. I couldn't find the words to protest.

He knew that I was a Solar? But I'd done nothing at all to incriminate myself!

A faint chill rippled down my spine as our eyes met. Once again, the leader of the bandits seemed familiar to me. "So where are you really headed, now that you know you cannot deceive me?" Silvermane pressed.

"I'm going to my manse. I'm trying to get some clean water going on the west side of Nexus," I explained, deciding not to complicate things with further lies.

"Feh! That is beneath you!" The Southerner scoffed. He watched me very strangely, something in his eyes that seemed to suggest he would prefer to be on his knees in my presence.

"Helping people is beneath me?" I glared at him. "Doctor Basha..."

I was about to use the good doctor's name in my defense, but then I remembered that he didn't actually exist. Oddly enough, Silvermane did react.

"Doctor Basha?" The lion-man snarled. "You're working for that charlatan? He's a ruthless zealot! He'll kill you with no remorse at all! He used to be an Immaculate monk!" He finished, as if that were the most damning accusation he could imagine.

" _I_ used to be an Immaculate monk!" I snapped. "And _you do not have the right_ to tell me what to do!" The troubles I'd encountered escaping the Blessed Isle had taught me that if I needed room to breathe, all I had to do was flare my Caste Mark... so that was exactly what I did. With the sun sitting on the horizon line nearing its set, I couldn't have painted a more powerfully effective picture.

The bandits all backed away from me slowly, murmuring to one another in disbelief, but Silvermane stepped forward. He put his hand on my shoulder for the second time, and met my gaze without hesitation. He was so calm that I almost relaxed myself.

 _Almost._

"My apologies. I think we started off badly. What is your name?" He asked.

"Veritas," I replied. "Veritas Ilumio."

"Well, I am called Silvermane. This is my lieutenant, Six Claws," He gestured to the Southerner, who demonstrated the source of his peculiar name by holding up his arm which was deeply scarred. "We represent the Sun-King Seneshals, and we mean you no harm. Will you stay the night with us?" Silvermane pressed. "In the morning, we can escort you to your manse."

"I don't need an escort!" I argued. "I'm leaving now!"

"As you wish," Silvermane nodded and stepped aside, motioning for all of his followers to keep out of my way. I furiously stuffed my pack, throwing items everywhere and then stopped as I saw I had ripped a hole in my bag of rice and poured its contents all over the ground.

I also noticed that one of the beastman had begun roasting a pair of rabbits on a spit. My stomach grumbled, and I decided it was probably best to put aside my pride. I did need help, but I was still suspicious of Silvermane's motives.

"Why do you want to help me? I asked slowly.

"Why do you want to help the people of Nexus?" Silvermane retorted.

"Because it's the right thing to do," I replied.

"Yes," Silvermane nodded. "It is." He paused for a moment. "The one you call "Doctor Basha" is a good man. He is often the first to come forward when people are suffering. He has great compassion, which may redeem him in spite of all the lying and manipulating that he does."

"If you thought that from the beginning, then why did you try to start a fight with me?" I demanded. I didn't say the word "Sidereal". Silvermane had clearly avoided it himself and I guessed he had a reason to. I did not have to ask if he knew what Sidereals really were. I suspected he would tell me if I asked him in private.

"I needed to be certain that you were truly who I thought you were," Silvermane explained. "The Unconquered Sun has kindled in you a rare spark. Your return has been long awaited. But you will need many hands to accomplish your vision. Hands that I will gather for you, should you wish them."

"Why? You don't even know me!" I wondered uneasily.

"I have _always_ known you," Silvermane replied. His response did not startle me so much as my own realization that there really was no better way he could have explained it. I did know him. I had _always_ known him. I just didn't understand _how_.

"Sit down, drink, eat with us!" Silvermane gestured to the bonfire his men had started. "It's still a long way to your manse. We will go in the morning. And in the meantime I will answer any questions you have for me."

I sat near the fire, and Silvermane set himself only a few feet away from me. As he sat, a strange flickering of moonlight washed over him and his appearance changed. The beast was gone, and in his place sat a big, silver-haired northern man with a short beard and the same swirling tattoos all over his body. He was dressed in an archaic fashion, mostly blue and black. It was not the style of clothing favored by bandits, not even well-off ones. If he hadn't torn the sleeves off of his shirt, he might have passed for a nobleman.

All of his followers stared at him in disbelief. I blinked in surprise myself. If he had seemed familiar to me when I saw him as a lion, I was certain that I knew Silvermane as a man.

"But Lord Silvermane, your oath!" Six Claws stammered.

"Who do you _think_ sits before you?" Silvermane replied. "This is the one to whom I am bound."

"A man?" Six Claws frowned.

"From one life to the next, some things change. Some, do not," he paused. "Please excuse the behavior of my lieutenant. I fear I have told him too much about you. And he is not used to seeing me in this form. I have not worn it in a long time. Sometimes it is difficult for me to remember that I was not born a lion," Silvermane laughed slightly.

"You're not a beastman?" I observed.

"You've never met a Lunar before?" He seemed surprised.

I remembered what Rhapsody had said about her "Clever Devil" and suddenly understood her need to go to Great Forks as I never had before. If every Solar had a Lunar match... had I just met my own? Silvermane certainly seemed to think so.

"No," I admitted. "I was raised in the Imperial City. I've only been traveling for six months and aside from Nexus, the only other place I've ever lived is the Abbey of Mela."

"The Abbey of Mela?" Silvermane echoed.

"I told you already. I _was_ an Immaculate monk," I explained.

"No! You were _serious_?" Silvermane exclaimed. He tilted his head to the side and squinted at me strangely.

What are you doing?" I frowned.

"Trying to see if you still have your soul," He informed me. "I think you do."

"Thanks," I laughed slightly despite myself. As the full moon peered out from the dark clouds overhead, I was reminded that I hadn't given Godchaser her daily dose of Essence. Also, the moonlight helped me see Kahn more clearly.

 _Kahn_? Where had I gotten that name from?

"Does the name Kahn mean anything to you?" I felt compelled to ask.

The Lunar hesitated. He looked troubled, and I could tell that I'd touched on a nerve. "I... I knew it would be this way," he admitted. "At least in my mind, I knew... but my heart did not agree."

I wasn't sure what he meant by that, so I said nothing.

"These days I live however I may, on the very edges of civilization... but before the Usurpation I was proud to call myself a Steward of the Yanazi River Valley. It was once a beautiful and prosperous country with the purest water, and richest grain in all Creation. While not nearly as fashionable as Meru or Calypsis, it was ruled by a pair of noble and compassionate Solars, the very best of the Lawgivers who loved and served their people," he paused. "Kahn is my name, the name I was born with before I became one of Luna's Chosen. You... no, _Perfect_ always called me Kahn."

I'd heard the name Perfect before. Godchaser had informed me that it was what my name had been in my past life when I'd built her. It was still all very strange to me, but I couldn't argue that it wasn't real. The little that I remembered of Perfect's experiences felt as true to me as my memories of my mother and father, and my years in the monastery.

When I saw Silvermane sitting across from me, I found that I remember him very clearly, coming to observe something I had built and not being suitably impressed with it. It had annoyed me at the time and even still, his lack of appreciation for anything I built that wasn't a bridge, a building, or some kind of waterworks set me on edge...

Or it would have anyway, if I was still Perfect and not myself.

"So you knew Perfect? How old are you?" I wondered.

"Around two thousand years. I don't know exactly," the Lunar replied.

"You don't look a day over fifty," I informed him.

"You didn't look any older than thirty when you were nearly three-thousand!" He replied.

Three-thousand years was a lot of time, dizzying to imagine. More troubling still was the familiarity in our conversation. I knew Silvermane as well as I knew Godchaser, and felt that I could trust him implicitly. I had to ask him about my manse.

"How _exactly_ did you know Perfect?" I asked.

Silvermane sighed heavily. "Part of you is divine, and that part of you _is_ Perfect! You need only ask yourself."

I glared at him, and he laughed.

"I have heard the story of your Exaltation, of how you leapt from the roof of an Immaculate monastery and worked sorcery as you fell!" He laughed. "Luna as my witness, I truthfully believed that all of us returned to Creation in the same manner, weak in the knowing of things and unable to command our once-great powers. It should not have been possible for you to work sorcery without ever having studied it, or for a mere mortal to repair a construct as sophisticated as the one you are currently carrying."

I instinctively reached up to touch Godchaser's flickering hearthstone.

"I have had much experience, with Solars, Veritas. Already you are doing things that would be difficult for an Exalt five times your age! Mad as it sounds... there are those who believe that you are your predecessor, back from the dead," Silvermane explained. "More importantly, you are not the first of your Circle to have returned in this manner. There is some sort of celestial meddling going on," he whispered, scarcely loud enough for me to hear him.

"I don't know what you're talking about. As I see it, I've just gotten lucky," I replied uneasily.

Godchaser giggled.

"Godchaser says you're a liar," Silvermane replied.

"How do you..." I began, again struggling with the word "Sidereals". I was almost afraid that if I said it, one of them would hear... and Silvermane seemed to think the same. He glanced at Godchaser with a smile.

"How do I know her name? Why, I was the one who named her! What you called her was far too long, and no one could remember it correctly," Silvermane smiled slightly.

"I'm not Perfect," I informed him.

Silvermane laughed. "You say that, but you do not see yourself. Your hair. Your eyes. Your hands. That face you make when you are thinking! The way you speak, the way you sit! That frown you have on your face right now. You could be your predecessor's _twin_! I suppose my wife will be relieved to learn that you've come back as a man. She is not very clever, and she worries sometimes that I will abandon her." He chuckled slightly, but there was something in eyes that spoke volumes more than he said.

I knew with certainty that if I asked him to come with me, he would do it without question. Even when I tried to brush him off, he still followed me around, as if there was nowhere he would rather be. That thought was troubling. Personally, I preferred women, although I had never had much luck with them, not even when I was wealthy. And even if I hadn't met Rhapsody, I would have been troubled by the way I felt around Silvermane. I liked him immediately, but I could not imagine being a woman... which was perhaps why the idea of having a _husband_ from a past life made me so uncomfortable.

But was it as simple as that? What Rhapsody had said about Lunars and Solars being created as a pair stuck in my mind. Although we had only just met, I could already sense how we balanced one another. I'd been blown by the wind from one corner of Creation to the other and hadn't even realized how precarious my grip on the world had become. Silvermane was grounded, immobile like a rock. Simply being in his presence made me feel more secure. Despite my apprehension, I found myself creeping closer and closer to him until we sat side-by-side looking into the flames of his campfire.

"Are you married? Do you have a family?" Silvermane asked me.

"I was an only child and both my parents are dead. I've never married," I paused. "But... there is someone."

"Oh?" Silvermane observed with a smile. "I know that look! What's her name?"

"Windswept Rhapsody," I replied. Her name did have a musical quality to it, and when I'd told Doctor Basha about my lovely bard... I'd almost forgotten that he would associate her with all of the folk songs that she had written about herself.

Silvermane paled suddenly. "Excuse me? What did you say?"

There was something wrong, I could tell from his face. "Do you know Rhapsody?" I wondered uneasily.

"Yes, I... I _knew_ Rhapsody," he admitted.

"Something's happened?" I stared. A thousand different horrible thoughts were hammering through my mind and I swore I felt my heart skip a beat.

"It is very hard for me to say this," Silvermane explained. "But Rhapsody is dead."

"Dead? But... she was on her way to Great Forks! How can she be dead?" I demanded. Questions simply poured out of me. I wanted to believe that Silvermane was wrong.

No... I _had_ _to_ believe that Silvermane was wrong!

"We may never know what happened," Silvermane paused. "As I'm sure you know, Rhapsody lived up to her name, traveling from place to place like the wind. But I heard a song played in a tavern not three nights ago. I asked the bard where he had learned it, and he could not remember. And so I went to the place that his song spoke of. That was where I found this," Silvermane admitted, producing something wrapped in a handkerchief.

It was the pendant I had made, the cord snapped, and three of the blue beads missing.

"It's hers. I made it for her," I whispered, hearing the tremor in my own voice as I spoke.

"Ill news. I had hoped that it was not so," Silvermane paused.

"Well, if you didn't bury her, I won't believe she's dead!" I informed him, my voice a little harsher than I had meant for it to be. "And if she is dead, someone is responsible!"

"Perfect, I know what you are thinking and you must not do it!" He warned. "If you have any love in your heart for Rhapsody at all, know that she would want you to keep doing the work of the Unconquered Sun. Revenge is a dangerous path. And you should know that better than anyone!"

Although he had called me by the name of my previous incarnation again, I didn't correct him. What could I have said? He was right, and I knew it. But I didn't have to like it!

Silvermane stared at me gravely and then gave me Rhapsody's amulet without speaking. I didn't look at it, putting it directly in my pocket where it sat like a cold lead weight against my heart.

"You're not going to sleep tonight, are you?" He asked.

"No," I said. Though I still wanted to ask Silvermane about Sidereals, my mind was still fixed on Rhapsody. It would have to wait.

"Lie down at least. Close your eyes for a little while. There is nothing either of us can do at this moment," Silvermane advised. He looked ready to say something else, and I waited for him to finish speaking but he never managed another word.

He simply turned and hugged me for much longer than I felt comfortable with, and then excused himself to go check on his men. Long after he'd gone, I found myself staring up at the night sky and trying to convince myself that Silvermane was wrong. I had to believe that Rhapsody was still alive... that I could find her, wherever she was, and save her. Even if she had left me with no notice at all, I couldn't stomach the thought of anything bad happening to her. Rhapsody could not be dead! No one with a soul could have possibly harmed her!

I did not sleep at all that night. I paced and cursed, laid down, got up again and drank far more than I should have. Not for the first time, I worried over the extent of my own power.

While I was still convinced that I was supposed to be a force for good, I could not ignore how the wheels in my mind had spun effortlessly as I considered a number of ruthless ways to find and punish whoever had killed Rhapsody. The same skills that had allowed me to restore the life-saving fountain in Nexus could just as easily be put to work building something inconceivably deadly.

Or...

Banishing demons was difficult... a contest of wills.

 _Summoning them was easy._

I woke with Rhapsody's amulet clenched so tightly in my fist that its rays had imprinted themselves in my skin. Silvermane stood over me with a walking stick in his hand. He helped me to my feet and passed me the stick.

"So where are we going, Kahn?" I wondered, trying to conceal the fact that I had spent most of the night gritting my teeth and ignoring Godchaser's quiet, supportive whispers. I realized only belatedly that I had instinctively called him by his old name.

"Up," Silvermane replied, gesturing to a large hill in the distance. I wouldn't have called it a mountain because trees covered its summit... but it was definitely the biggest thing around for miles.

"My manse is on top of that hill?" I observed, feeling my spirits sink.

"No, your manse _is_ that hill! There was a great flood at the time of the Contagion and it has been covered with dirt for many centuries. The main doors do not open, so we will have to go all the way to the top. That is why I brought you a stick," Silvermane laughed. "Another lifetime and you still don't like walking?"

"I hate it," I replied. "I got used to it before I sailed for Nexus, but three months on a ship spoiled me."

"I can't imagine being on a ship for so long," Silvermane grimaced.

"At least there's no walking!" I retorted.

As distant as the mountain had appeared, it wasn't long before we reached our destination. If I bought myself a horse, I could likely make the journey from the city in a single day.

As we traveled, I didn't say much to Silvermane. All of his men seemed to worship the ground that I walked on, so there was no sense in trying to strike up a conversation with any of them. Besides, my mind was still on Rhapsody and Sidereals. Something told me that the two were connected in a manner that I wouldn't like.

When we neared the manse, Godchaser woke. She said something incoherent about being close to our destination, and then noticed Silvermane. He laughed as she flew off of my shoulders and tackled him. All of his men stared in disbelief at the construct who was chattering like crazy and using every single word on my "forbidden" list. Even if Silvermane did make me uneasy, it was obvious that Godchaser loved him... and I trusted her judgment.

To be honest, I didn't know what to expect as we neared the mountain's summit. Part of me saw white marble columns with golden veins while at the same time I considered that a cave might be more appropriate. Nothing could have prepared me for the enormous, seamless orichalcum box that sat silently on very edge of treeline, glowing faintly with the light of the mid-afternoon sun.

The rest of the manse was buried... and I couldn't guess or remember what it had looked like.

"It's a box," Six Claws observed.

Silvermane's second-in-command was not very bright.

Fortunately, I already knew exactly what to do. I put both of my hands on the orichalcum and poured Essence into it. I could feel the instability of the whole manse as I sent my Essence racing through its walls. When I'd exhausted all that I could and started to burn visibly, I took a step back.

"Open." I ordered in Old Realm. The box opened obediently, revealing a cave-like entrance filled with rocks and mold that more closely resembled my original expectations. "This is probably as far as the rest of you should go. This place is very unstable." I admitted, still shaken by what I'd felt before opening the door.

"Are you certain that you don't need my help?" Silvermane pressed.

"You'd only be in danger," I informed him.

"No more danger than you!" He snorted.

"I'd be in more danger then," I replied. "On account of worrying!"

"You would worry about me?" Silvermane eyed me suspiciously.

"I'd worry about anyone who followed me into this place," I retorted, trying to underplay my extremely awkward confession. "I don't really know how long this might take. There's no sense in waiting for me to come out. Head back to where we camped before, and I'll find you before I return to Nexus. And please... tell me if you hear anything of Rhapsody."

Silvermane nodded. "Count on it."

The door closed between us.

Godchaser giggled.

"What do you think is so funny?" I demanded.

" _You,_ " she replied, saying nothing.

I took a deep breath and surveyed our surroundings. "So this is the "home" you've always talked about?" I observed, grimacing as a stone and a clump of moss fell from the ceiling above my head. "I'm not impressed."

"It used to be cleaner," Godchaser admitted.

"I'll bet!" I laughed slightly, although I saw nothing particularly funny about staggering into a potentially deadly ruined manse. "What now?"

"Well, now we go to the hearthstone room," Godchaser replied.

"And where is that?" I demanded.

"Down," Godchaser replied. That was all she remembered.

Eighteen flights of stairs later, we were still descending. "How much farther is it?" I demanded.  
"I don't know! It's close but I don't know where and I'm already getting tired and I..." Godchaser rambled.

I leaned against the wall and sighed heavily. An invisible door slid open behind me and I fell to the floor.

"Oh. Found it!" Godchaser observed.  
"Yes, so I noticed," Rubbing my bruised elbow, I looked up at the room we'd just entered. It was not very large and in the center of the space was a pedestal flooded with golden-white light. A brand-new hearthstone identical to Godchaser's hovered in midair, burning like a falling star.  
So that was the trouble with the manse? It had been trying to produce a new hearthstone, the first it had born in more than a thousand years! I reached forward to touch the stone. It was so beautiful that I couldn't stop myself. And yet moments before my fingertips would have made contact, a face made of light burst out of the hearthstone's pedestal.  
"Maker!" Godchaser shrieked. I covered my head and fell to the floor.

"How dare you enter my manse? Who do you think you are?" The apparition roared, speaking in Old Realm with the voice of a woman. Whatever it was, it was clearly meant to terrify... but I would not be deterred. Without hesitation I poured as much of my Essence as I could through the new hearthstone and into the manse, focusing on the parts that were the most unstable and forcing my will on them, telling them to mend.  
For the briefest of moments, the shifting face stabilized, and I saw a woman looking down on me. She could have been my sister with how similar we appeared, but I knew who she was. I recognized her as I would have recognized my own reflection. She was Perfect.  
"I'm _you,_ " I informed her.

The apparition of Perfect froze. She considered me for a moment, and then smiled faintly. "So you are." She whispered. And as she disappeared, I realized that I had done it... I'd saved the manse and seized control of it. All of the Essence it produced was flowing unrestricted through Godchaser, and from its new hearthstone into me. The feeling was almost dizzying, like a drink of water after a long run.  
"You did it!" Godchaser exclaimed. "I'm better! I'm all better!"  
I smiled slightly and immediately passed out.

Some hours later, I woke to a large spider crawling across my face and Godchaser hovering over me, looking concerned. I brushed the spider away and slowly sat up. The manse's new hearthstone was still in my hand, and there was no sign of its guardian, the last surviving vestiges of my previous incarnation.  
As I walked out of the hearthstone room, the wall closed behind me with a slight hiss. What had been a door became an almost invisible crack in the wall, too subtle for anyone to detect. I continued on down the stairs, still tired but energized by my success and the constant, steady flow of Essence from my new hearthstone. I was especially eager to see what gems my past self might have hidden in her secret stronghold.  
Finally, I reached the very bottom of the stairs. A solid orichalcum door stood before me, engraved with five symbols, one for each Solar Caste. As if possessed, I slowly traced the marks for  
Dawn, Zenith, Night, and Eclipse. When my hand stopped on Twilight, the door slid open.  
A huge gust of stale air assaulted my senses. I coughed and looked up. Despite the fact that I was still glowing involuntarily, there was not enough light to see anything.  
Godchaser whistled. "Oooh, what a mess!" She exclaimed.

Like a candle against the dark, Godchaser hovered up and away from me, higher and higher. Around her I caught brief glimpses of exciting-looking things and began to wonder just how big the space we had entered actually was.

"Ahah!" She observed. "Maker, throw something up here!" Godchaser shouted down. "Throw something right at me!"

"I don't have anything to throw!" I protested, squinting as I tried to guess how far away she was. Maybe a hundred feet up? I was surprised that I could still hear her. Months ago, I would have protested that I couldn't possibly throw anything so far, but I wasn't in the mood to feign weakness then. I looked around for something that might do significant damage.

"Throw a whirlagig! You've got a million of them!" Godchaser retorted. When I didn't immediately oblige, she must have guessed that I didn't know what she meant. "Ugh, Maker! One of those round things by your foot!" She clarified. I looked down. I was standing almost on top of a pile of little orichalcum balls each about the size of a child's toy. Without bothering to consider what they were or what they could be used for, I picked up the closest and hurled it up with all of the force I could.

There was a loud crack as my ball struck something metal and a shower of dirt cascaded down from the ceiling. Wincing as a rock hit my shoulder, I saw that the sun had begun to shine into the room. I picked up another orichalcum ball and threw it in Godchaser's direction. More dirt fell from the ceiling and a loud groan of creaking metal drew my attention. Godchaser cheered as I hurled one last ball. When it struck its target, the ceiling opened up like a flower in the morning and all of a sudden, the room was filled with light.  
I stared. It was all I could do.  
"Maker?" Godchaser wondered, hovering down to join me. "Are you all right?"

"I am either _dreaming_ or _dead,_ " I replied.

"I know it's dirty, but do you like it?" She asked.

" _Like_ is not a strong enough word," I replied. "Can we get some more light in here? Light!" I ordered in Old Realm. In response to my voice, the manse rumbled to life.

Of course! It was so simple! Why hadn't I remembered to do that before?

Even in the dark I'd been awed, and I hadn't even seen half of what there was to see. The main chamber was more than four hundred feet long and twice that wide, but what was really remarkable was just how the high the ceiling was. I knew I'd been down a lot of stairs, but from the floor I felt like I was staring up from the Underworld.

Staircases on either side of the open room lead to various platforms of different heights that I could tell were designed to raise and lower themselves. The entire room was impossibly huge and filled with so many books that I could never hope to read them all... not even if I did have more than 3,000 years.  
High above I could see a fragment of sky where the metal panels that formed the roof had cracked open slightly, littering the floor with dirt, rocks and dead leaves. A prismatic blue butterfly flew just over my head and a massive orb-weaver spider had made its home across the stairs.

There was more raw material than I knew what to do with... orichalcum, moonsilver, jade... things I couldn't hope to identify. One table held a bowl full of glimmering hearthstones, keys to who knew how many more hidden manses scattered throughout Creation.  
I'd never been inside the Heptagram but I had to imagine that even the greatest sorcerers of the Realm would have wept had they entered into that wondrous laboratory. It was more sophisticated than the finest factory I'd ever seen with the grace of a cathedral, not merely a workshop, but a sacred space, a temple to knowledge and craftsmanship. Carved into a slab of white marble were characters in Old Realm.

 _Behold the Great Work of the Unconquered Sun._

I recognized the plasma forge directly in front of me from my memory of building Godchaser and there was an enormous screen of some kind on the opposite side of the room. The wealth of unfinished projects on every open surface caused my head to spin. I could work for centuries and never fix everything!  
Although... I _did_ know where I wanted to start.

There were two strange-looking, birdlike constructs resting on a movable rig at least forty feet off of the floor. For a moment I marveled at them and wondered how they'd gotten up so high... but then Godchaser noticed what I was looking at.  
"Hm." She mused, hovering up to inspect the nearest one. "Oh, the warbirds? I wonder if this one will still fly?"  
" _Fly_? I echoed. "You mean, out of here?" I gazed up at the open roof.  
"Of course! Maker, you didn't make a roof like that to just let bugs in!" She reprimanded me.  
I surveyed my manse, shocked by the realization that nothing had been disturbed since I'd seen it last except by nature. If anything, the butterflies and the overgrown foliage simply made the room even more exotically beautiful. I caught a beautiful copper-colored spider scurrying away from my foot and held it up to the light.  
It wasn't any species that I recognized, and when I adjusted my glasses and looked at it very closely, I realized it was actually a tiny construct!  
"Well now, aren't _you_ fascinating?" I laughed, poking at it. Like a living thing, it reared up on four of its eight legs and batted at my finger. I sighed and released it onto the floor. To my surprise, it did not run away. It followed me. A dozen others of its kind emerged from every hidden corner of the room, and then a dozen more. There were hundreds of them, a tiny army! Godchaser floated over my shoulder as I approached the main terminal and dusted off the chair that sat in front of it. The spiders surrounded me. They looked as if they were waiting for something.  
"Tell the spiders to go work," Godchaser prompted.  
I turned to the spiders. "Go work," I ordered in Old Realm.  
They immediately skittered away. I didn't know what they would be doing and wasn't sure that I should care. How much trouble could a little spider cause anyway?  
I brushed the dirty and dried leaves off of the control panel for the massive terminal in front of me. I hadn't the faintest idea how to operate the device... if it even worked at all.  
"Hello, I AM," Godchaser chirped. "We're back!"  
There was no response.  
"I said we're back!" Godchaser repeated. "Hello? Hello, I AM? Maker, I AM is broken!" She whined.  
"We'll see about that!" I replied. I glanced briefly at my improvised toolbox and shoved it with my foot under a nearby table. The tools would be useful props when I wandered into Nexus, but if I was working in my own space, I would not need them.  
I'd caught sight of a familiar cabinet in the far corner, as tall as I was and six or seven feet wide. There were no handles to open it, but that would have been unthinkably mundane. The faintest brush of my fingertips caused the pristine white panels to slide open, revealing every kind of tool I might ever desire as well as some I couldn't even name, all brilliantly crafted.  
The ones meant for the heaviest or most complex work were painstakingly forged from magical materials. I picked up a very small pair of silvery pliers. When I gave them an experimental squeeze, they changed shape slightly. Focusing intently, I gave them a bit of Essence and told them to twist slightly to the left, and then to the right.  
"I see you found your tools," Godchaser observed. "They're distracting you, aren't they?"  
I couldn't bring myself to respond, still mesmerized by the little pliers I held in my hand.  
Effortlessly reading the expression on my face, Godchaser laughed.


	15. Chapter 14 - Sidereals (Veritas)

**Chapter 14**

 **Sidereals**

Though I didn't really know what I was doing, I spent some hours muddling about with the enormous device that Godchaser had referred to as I AM. Despite the fact that nothing inside of it was discernibly broken, I found that I still could not coax it to respond to any commands that I gave. I discovered a strange connecting cable that caused Godchaser to shriek with delight. It was made to attach to one of her tendrils, and so I threw caution to the wind and plugged her into the enormous terminal.

For a moment she was bobbing up and down with excitement, but then she fell still.

"Something wrong?" I wondered.

"Well, there is some information in here, but just your personal files. And I can't find I AM. It's gone," She explained.

"Was I AM a friend of yours?" I wondered.

"It was the biggest AI in the whole world," She replied. "But... just because it's gone from here doesn't mean it's gone from everywhere." She tried to sound optimistic, but I doubted that she believed her own words.

"Are you crying?" I wondered.

"No," Godchaser lied.

"Well, we have a lot of material and information here. Give me a little time and maybe I'll think of something," I suggested.

"It wouldn't be the same. You didn't build I AM, Maker. Your rival built him. Her and the Sidereals," Godchaser explained.

"Sidereals? Is there anything they're not involved in?" I snorted. Then it occurred to me what Godchaser had actually said. "I have a rival?" I wondered.

"Oh, yes! You did, anyway. _Tess,_ " She replied, speaking that name as if it were something she loathed almost as much as the word "Anathema". "Ahah, there are some files left! I can take these! And ooh! It's a picture!"

"Show me!" I demanded.

"I, uh... I am a little busy, Maker. Tell I AM to show you Tess," Godchaser replied.

"It can show me pictures?" I wondered.

"It can bring up any files it has," Godchaser admitted. "Which is not very many, since I am taking most of the useful ones right now," she explained.

"All right, I AM. Show me Tess!" I ordered.

A life-sized image appeared in front of me, as real as if the woman was really standing in the center of the room only a few feet away from me. She was almost as tall as I was with deeply tanned skin, platinum blonde hair and bright green eyes. Dressed in very fine clothing, she wore a large number of strange artifacts all over her person, most notably a hearthstone amulet with a pinkish sphere inside it, a stone I _knew_ I'd seen before. Of course, when I tried to touch her... she disappeared. But the fact that the I AM terminal could make a projection so realistic gave me an inspired idea.

"So this system we're accessing works like you do, Godchaser?" I asked.

"If you mean that it's mostly broken and missing important data, you'd be right about that," She replied curtly.

"But it can record things too, and play them back?" I clarified.

"Oh, of course. Probably. That isn't very difficult," she admitted.

"I AM, show me myself!" I ordered.

The device hesitated for a moment and then a woman appeared standing across from me. She was dressed in a white cloak that knew had to be Godchaser, and a stunning orichalcum circlet bearing the Twilight Caste symbol. She was beautiful in a rather harsh way, and her nose was even more pointed than mine was. It made her look stubborn. Without a doubt, I was staring at the same woman who'd tried to stop me in hearthstone room. I was looking at Perfect Mechanical Soul.

"I AM needs a new picture," Godchaser observed.

"So give it one," I replied. "You can do that, can't you?"

"Of course!" Godchaser scoffed. The image of Perfect vanished and a life-size projection of me appeared in its place.

"You don't have more recent picture of me than that?" I pressed, staring at myself. I was dressed in monk's robes and my head was still shaved, but no one would have mistaken me for an Immaculate, not with the mark that was burning on my brow. Obviously the picture had been taken right after I'd Exalted... I wasn't yet covered in dirt or deer berries. There was an absolutely dumbfounded expression on my face. I realized belatedly that I was looking at myself as Godchaser had first seen me.

"I like that one!" Godchaser retorted. "But if you want a different one, Maker... I have many more!"

The monk "me" vanished, and Perfect reappeared. I walked around her, and as I did, her eyes followed me. "You know, she looks like she could be my sister," I admitted.

Godchaser didn't respond, probably sorting through her collection of pictures. "Ah, here's a good one!" She exclaimed. The image of Perfect faded and once again I was left looking at myself again... this time tied to a tree.

"You evil machine!" I laughed despite myself. "Have you ever recorded me when I wasn't about to be killed?"

Godchaser did not respond, but she looked very smug.

"I AM, keep up the current image. And bring up the previous one also," I ordered.

The two projections glanced at one another... Perfect in her finery and myself tied to a tree. I studied them both.

"Have I always looked so much the same?" I pressed. It was impossible to ignore how strongly I resembled my previous incarnation. I looked more like her than either of my own parents.

"Always?" Godchaser echoed.

"I must have been reincarnated more than once before. It's been 1,500 years!" I reminded her.

"Maker, this is first time you've come back," Godchaser informed me. "Kahn told me so. We've both been waiting for you."

"So why did it take so long?" I pressed.

"I don't know. Sidereals?" Godchaser suggested.

"I like that word less every time you say it. And you still don't know what exactly they are, do you?" I asked.

When she did not respond, I turned to I AM. "I AM, what do you know about Sidereals?" I demanded.

A fragmented mess of Old Realm characters made of green light flooded the room, swirling across the floor with a force that scattered leaves and scraps of paper all around. When I looked closely at them, I saw that they were all variations of the same character, meaning "jade". When I tried to touch them, they rose up all around me in a circle, forming the bars of a cage. It was only light and energy, so I could pass through it, but the implication was unmistakable.

"Godchaser? What's happening?" I whispered fearfully. She pulled free of I AM but did not swoop to my rescue. She only stared at the device.

" _Jade_ _prison,_ " she said in a voice that did not sound like her own.

That was when the power went out. I was able to get the lights back on with only small amount of Essence and a few orders to my army of little mechanical spiders, but there was no response at all from I AM. Still uneasy after whatever it was she had witnessed, Godchaser admitted that she didn't know what the words " _jade_ _prison_ " meant or what they had to do with anything.

She did confess that they scared her very badly and made her think of Himitsu.

I was not at all surprised. The more I learned about all of the things Sidereals meddled in, the more I became convinced that building Godchaser in order to hunt them down had been an act of compassion on the behalf of humanity.

With Godchaser's help, I removed her mangled teleportation circuit and left it on a work table so that I could fuss with it when I finished the fountain in Glassmaker's Row as I'd promised that I would. Searching my manse, I found enough raw materials to last me for several years. I picked up a brick of orichalcum from a pile labeled "industrial grade" and examined it. Brick in hand, I slowly approached the plasma forge.

"All right, let's fire it up," I said to Godchaser.

She giggled. "This is where I was made," she said.

"I know. I remember," I replied.

Godchaser froze. I realized that I still hadn't told her about my epiphany, although it had been months ago. She'd been conscious to meet Rhapsody, and to identify Dr. Basha as a Sidereal, but she'd missed virtually everything else. I watched her hovering precariously. There was something still wrong with her, although the Essence from the manse was now flowing again. I decided that it wasn't the right time for the conversation we needed to have.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" I demanded. "Go make sure all the vents are open!"

"Hehe!" She laughed. "I've got a job!"

Still reveling, she zipped off. When Godchaser came back and told me that everything was in order, I put my hands on the forge. It had been cold for centuries, and it needed a staggering amount of Essence to get started, much more than I normally fueled into Godchaser.

I was burning like a torch when a spark finally appeared.

"We've got it!" I shouted, although Godchaser right next to me.

"Hooray!" She exclaimed.

The sphere of plasma expanded until it was the size of a melon. I stared at it for a long while, watching the color change as it stabilized. It looked like a tiny sun.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I smiled slightly at my work.

Godchaser sniffled.

"What are you crying for?" I asked.

"I'm not crying," she lied.

"You're ridiculous," I sighed.

When the temperature felt right, I went to my toolbox and retrieved a familiar pair of gloves. They were a little tighter than I remembered them being, but they still fit. A blacksmith working in a normal forge needed to stay away from the heat, and used long tongs to do that. My forge was much, much hotter, but I'd developed a better way of handling the metal, even when it was in a liquid state. The forge-hand gloves would allow me to reach directly into the plasma and shape things with only my hands and my mind, just as I normally made jewelry.

The smell in the air was probably awful from the perspective of anyone who hadn't dreamt about it a thousand times.

"What are _you_ crying for?" Godchaser pressed, hovering over my shoulder.

"The smoke," I lied.

As the orichalcum softened, I began fueling Essence into the forge again. The first few pipes were tricky, because I needed them to be perfect or they wouldn't fit. After about an hour, I laid flat on the cold stone floor to rest.

Godchaser brought me more metal with some theatrics. She couldn't really carry a brick, but knotted one of her tendrils around it and attempted to drag it, complaining the entire time about her lack of hands.

It took about three days to finish the parts. When I was done, I wrapped everything in white sheets, tied them together with ropes and improvised a pack I could wear on my back. On my way out the door I picked up my mundane tools, sneaking a few extraordinary gems from my new collection into the bottom of the box. Since I was trying to maintain a low profile, I figured it was best to avoid anything that would attract too much attention... but I couldn't resist bringing along the little shape-changing moonsilver pliers I had discovered. While probably not necessary for finishing my fountain, I had discovered that they were the ideal tool for working on Godchaser.

"All right, let's go!" I decided. "We've got a fountain to finish!"

"But I'm still getting data! Godchaser argued. She was hovering over I AM with a vacant expression on her face.

"You can get more later," I informed her. "We're coming right back here once that fountain is up and running. And I might need your help while I'm in the city. You can watch my back."

With that exact purpose in mind, I'd carefully made two discreet little holes in the hood of my cloak. I could now turn Godchaser's mask around, hide it on the back of my head, and have her make sure that I wasn't being followed or observed.

"Okay!" Godchaser agreed, disconnecting from the terminal and hovering after me.

It did not take me as long to get out of my manse as it had taken me to get in. A few motes of Essence applied to the walls of the long stairwell caused the floor beneath my feet to move. I simply stood in one place and let the steps automatically ferry me all the way to the exit.

Though I didn't feel any particular loyalty to "Doctor Basha" or whoever he really was... there were plenty of other people were counting on me to repair the fountain. Clean water could control the spreading plague. Even if I was wandering into some sort of Sidereal trap, It was the right thing to do.

Setting foot inside my manse and seeing its glorious potential had burned the last of "the Wandering Monk" out of me. With time and preparation, I could change the whole face of Nexus. And then, as I'd promised Doctor Basha... there was work to be done throughout Creation.

Having such an extraordinary hiding place would make all of my plans much easier to accomplish. According to Silvermane, a large number of foolish treasure hunters had apparently fallen victim to the multitude of traps within my manse... and now anyone with a sense of self-preservation gave the place a wide berth. I hadn't seen any traps personally, but that was only because the door that I had entered through was not the one that others would think to use, a secret escape shaft only accessible to someone who could wield an extraordinary amount of Essence. The other ways in, of which there were several... were all designed to deter intruders.

While I was somewhat disturbed by the bloody-mindedness of my previous incarnation, I had to admit that I didn't have a terrible amount of sympathy for someone who intended to rob me or kill me. More importantly, I suspected there were many things inside my workshop that could be very dangerous in the wrong hands.

I still hadn't said anything to Godchaser about my epiphany, though I found myself smiling slightly every time she grumbled about my "stupid list" or said something and then promptly apologized. I meant to talk to her, but I wanted to feel that the time was right, and I was still concerned about her erratic hovering.

I'd given Godchaser the new hearthstone the manse had just finished producing, and taken her old one for myself. It seemed to be working well enough, and when I set it into a pendant and slipped it around my neck, I was pleased to discover that it provided me with a steady supply of lovely, warm, Essence. The feeling of wearing the stone was something akin to basking in the sun.

"Wait!" Godchaser demanded, floating after me. I reached for her and she settled around my shoulders, resuming her cloak-like appearance without coaxing.

"Too much walking!" She complained.

"What are you whining about, you stupid machine? I'm carrying you!" I reminded her.

"Yes, but walking is _boring_!" She protested. "Can't you just use sorcery?"  
"No," I replied.

"Why not?" Godchaser demanded. "Because it makes you _glow_?" The way she used that word, it was obvious that she was trying to get me to add it to "the stupid list".

"I'm not a sorcerer," I corrected her. "A sorcerer casts spells _on_ _purpose_. I've only ever cast them by accident."

"Ugh, Maker!" Godchaser groaned. "You are a sorcerer, and I don't care if you don't like me saying so! When we get home, I'll show you which book you need. You need to learn a spell called "Stormwind Rider". It's Emerald Circle, it's easy! Even a Dragonblood could do it!"

"Shh!" I ordered her. "Not another word out of you! Someone's coming!"

Godchaser fell silent. I slipped behind the closest tree and waited to see who was approaching on the road. There were a dozen soldiers on horseback, all dressed in the colors of the Ravenous Winds.

"How far are we from Nexus?" The first complained.

"A day," The second shrugged. "Probably less than that. Longer if it starts raining again." He glanced up at the black sky overhead.

"I tell you, this is a right royal mess that Talonlord Calil has put us into." The first sighed heavily. "This Cathak Loren of yours had better be as good as everyone says."

"Loren is extraordinary," the second smiled slightly. "You haven't met him yet, but you'll understand when you do. If he'd been better bred, he'd be his father's right hand in the Scarlet Legion. Really a shame when you think about it."

"Oh, for sure!" A familiar voice chimed in. "Greatest damn military genius the Realm has produced since the Roseblack, and he's wasted on us!"

When I briefly poked my head out of my hiding place to see if it was Sam who had spoken as I feared it might be, I accidentally caught a twig on my cloak and snapped it.

One of the men suddenly stopped. "Did you hear that, sir?" He wondered uneasily.

"I didn't hear anything," the first soldier admitted.

The second paused. "These woods are filled with all kinds of spooks," he snorted. "Word has it that a mean old Anathema used to have a fortress not far from here. We can go see it if you'd like."

"I'll pass!" His companion laughed, sounding very uneasy.

"Nothing to see anyway. Just a couple of big orichalcum doors. Dunno what's inside. Probably something murderous. Or a toy," he sighed heavily. "Possibly both?"

"Yeah, demons are weird like that!" Sam replied.  
It _was_ him! I held my breath as the soldiers passed by and waited until I was sure they were gone.  
"Did you sense any Sidereals, Godchaser?' I asked when they had all ridden off.

"Um..." She paused.  
"You're not sure?" I wondered.

"No, I'm just trying to count how many. _Three_ , I think."

"Three Sidereals! All of them with the Ravenous Winds?" I exclaimed in disbelief. "What are they doing here?" I demanded.

"Well, Maker... I think they are probably looking for _you,_ " she replied.

"That's no good. All the more reason for us to get back to Nexus!" I replied.

"But aren't you worried about running into Doctor Basha?" Godchaser protested.  
"Even if he is a Sidereal, he helped me when he didn't have to. I think I'm better off trusting him than those who've thrown in with that Wyld Hunt," I replied.

"I dunno. I like Sam. Especially when he calls you Copper... oh, the list!" Godchaser groaned. "Stupid list!"  
"Damn the list!" I sighed heavily. "Sam is a Sidereal too?"

Truth be told, I had expected as much.  
"Yes. Of the Sidereals I detected, one was a Chosen of Journeys. That's Sam." Godchaser nodded. "The soldier who was riding up near the Fanglord and complaining so much is a Chosen of Battles, and the other is a Chosen of Secrets. Sidereals usually work in groups. Since Doctor Basha is a Chosen of Serenity, that means there is probably a Chosen of Endings around here somewhere. It might be Himitsu."  
" _Himitsu_? Wonderful!" I grimaced. "Have these people all been stalking me my entire life?"

"Probably. It's what they do," Godchaser admitted.

"This is ridiculous! These damned sneaks are everywhere, and neither you nor I nor anyone knows what they are or what they're doing! And the fact that no one can remember them is awfully convenient, especially with how they keep seeming to pop up wherever they can cause the most trouble! Honestly! Sam _and_ Doctor Basha? Is anyone who likes me _not_ a Sidereal?" I demanded.

"Rhapsody likes you," Godchaser replied. "I like you!"

"Rhapsody likes everyone, and you're biased!" I informed her, though just hearing Rhapsody's name made me worry for her. Godchaser did not seem as convinced as Kahn was that Rhapsody was dead and since I preferred to keep things optimistic myself, I decided to continue hoping too.

"Well, what about Matsu, Tick, and Jing Wei?" Godchaser protested.

"Jing Wei threatened to throw me off his ship!" I reminded her.

"So? You always threaten to take me apart!" Godchaser reminded me. "Sometimes people say mean things when they love each other!"

"You're not helping, you stupid machine!" I smiled despite myself.

As fast as my legs would carry me, I made my way back to Silvermane's camp, wanting to warn him about the Sidereals that Godchaser had detected. When I arrived there, Kahn and all of his men were gone. It didn't take me long to discover why. The road was swarming with soldiers, all of them in the colors of the Ravenous Winds. I told Godchaser to look out for Sidereals and spent my night sleeping in a ditch. As soon as the sun had risen, I hurried back to Nexus.

I did not make it to the city's gates until several hours after sunset, and I didn't run into Doctor Basha or anyone else I knew on Glassmaker's Row. It was the middle of the night when I arrived at my fountain, which was just what I had hoped for... less chance of anyone catching me at work. I applied myself diligently to the last meticulous adjustments that I needed to make, and installed the parts.

The last necessary step was going to be the real challenge. I stared at the piece of messy paper that I'd scrawled my plans on, and then at the ancient book that I'd stuffed it into.

I had to cast a spell.

Though I knew that I was capable of sorcery, the thought of consciously working it still left me feeling apprehensive. I would become obvious as soon as I began, and if the results of my efforts were too loud or too bright, I'd be sure to catch someone's attention.

Also, I had a distinct feeling that I was already being watched.

"Oh, Maker, look! It's Two!" Godchaser exclaimed suddenly. "Hello, Two!"

I pulled her mask down over my face and turned quickly to see what she was shouting about. On the rooftop behind me, silhouetted against the moon was figure dressed in a white cloak with an ivory mask obscuring his face. If I hadn't known better, I might have suspected that I was looking in a mirror at my own reflection... or at least a reflection of Godchaser.

But the stranger who'd come to watch me work was wearing much nicer boots than I was, and a pair of pristine white gloves. I knew him immediately from the stories of my childhood.

He was the Emissary. For at least seven hundred years, the Emissary had been the most powerful man in the Scavenger Lands. He ruled the city of Nexus and maintained a stranglehold on the Guild from Chiarascuro to Great Forks. He seldom appeared in public, but he featured prominently in many local legends. I might have been afraid of him, if I hadn't recognized his attire immediately. The Emissary's signature white cloak was Godchaser's predecessor, my second prototype Ninefold Harmonic Essence Tracker. To be as old as he was, I knew he had to be a God or an Exalt, but that didn't change the fact that his fantastic disappearing act was made possible by something I had built myself.

Without hesitation, I leapt up onto the roof to meet him.

"Nice cloak," the Emissary observed, speaking in Old Realm.

"I should say the same. Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm the Emissary of Nexus," He replied.

"I knew that much. But who are you _really_?" I pressed.

"I am _really_ the Emissary of Nexus. I have an alias, obviously. Several, as a matter of fact," he added. "But this is not a _mask_ I'm wearing, this is my true _face_! The _mask_ is when I take it off."

"No, it is a mask you're wearing, and you stole it out of my trash," I informed him, gesturing to his cloak. "Frankly, I'm trying to decide if I should be upset about that."

"You're no fun at all," the Emissary pouted. Although he seemed surprisingly immature, I was very glad to see that the ruler of Nexus was not the soulless monster that so many believed that he was. Though I did still want to see his face, I couldn't blame him for being cautious. I suspected that he knew who I was, considering that I had already claimed to be the creator of his prized artifact. But that didn't mean he really knew me. We were technically strangers.

I sighed and crossed my arms.

"I'm not in the mood for games," I replied.

"Speaking of games... you haven't seen a Deathknight running about down here, have you?" the Emissary asked.

"I was alone until you showed up," I replied. "You don't have a problem with me working in your city, do you?" I wondered.

"Truth be told, I'm rather thankful for your help. I've no talent for fixing things," the Emissary admitted.

"So I've noticed," I replied.

"I am a bit particular about sorcery, however. May I see what spell you were about to cast?" He asked.

I showed him the spell in my book.

"Oh, well that's fine," He shrugged, as if it were no great thing. I did not doubt that whoever he was, the Emissary was very powerful.

"I suspected that it was just a little Emerald Circle muddling. But I am warning you now! No Adamant Circle sorcery within one hundred miles of this city!" He warned. "Or, you know, two hundred, depending on the actual range of the spell."

"Perish the thought!" I laughed uneasily. All I really knew of sorcery was that there were three circles, Emerald, Sapphire, and Adamant... and that no one besides a Solar could cast a spell of the Adamant Circle, the most powerful sorcery in Creation.

"Well, carry on then!" The Emissary sat on the rooftop

"You're going to watch?" I wondered, setting down my book.

"Oh my, are you self-conscious? But do continue! I've always wanted to see an old-school Devonian in action," he folded his white-gloved hands just under his chin.

"I'm not working sorcery with you up there looking down on me. It's obnoxious!" I protested.

"Well then, I suppose I shall just have to show you how we radical Silurians get things done," he retorted, hopping down to the fountain, and picking up my book. He glanced at it for a moment and then snorted disdainfully, cracking his knuckles.

I said nothing. I'd no idea what either of the words he'd used meant, except that Godchaser often spoke about two people Perfect had once known called "Silur", and "Devon". I gathered from the way the Emissary stood that he was about to cast the spell from my book. Deciding to pretend that I was not as impressed as I actually was, I hopped back up onto the roof myself and looked down on the Emissary.

The Emissary glanced up at me. "Now that's no fair at all!" He put his hands on his hips.

"I suppose not. But do continue!" I replied.

As the Emissary cast his spell a faint, wavering golden light blossomed all around him. The moment he called up his Essence, I felt my heart skip a beat. As I'd suspected, the Emissary was a Solar!

The spell did not take very long, and when it was done it was practically invisible... not very impressive, not in comparison to Emerald Banishing, but it seemed to do what it was intended to. I came down from my perch and reached into the fountain, scooping up a handful of crystal clear, clean water. "It works," I smiled slightly.

I turned to thank the Emissary, but he was already gone.

That was when I noticed that someone, the Emissary, no doubt, had already defaced my work!

Of course, when I saw what had been chiseled into the side of my fountain, I found that I could not remain angry. It was a piece of Old Realm poetry. There was no signature, no evidence of who was being was quoted, just the unmistakable symbol of Twilight Caste.

 _"You_ _see_ _many_ _stars_ _at_ _night_ _in_ _the_ _sky_ _but_ _find_ _them_ _not_ _when_ _the_ _sun_ _rises;_ _can_ _you_ _say_ _that_ _there_ _are_ _no_ _stars_ _in_ _the_ _heaven_ _of_ _day?_ _So,_ _O_ _man!_ _Because_ _you_ _behold_ _not_ _God_ _in_ _the_ _days_ _of_ _your_ _ignorance,_ _say_ _not_ _that_ _there_ _is_ _no_ _God."_

It was _perfect_.

I heard the sound of a door opening nearby. Doctor Basha stared in horror as I turned to face him. Belatedly, I remembered my mask and took it off. Godchaser giggled.

"Oh, Veritas!" He paused, looking embarrassed. "I thought you were the Emissary!"

I smiled slightly. "He just left."

"Then he was here? The Emissary was actually _here_ , in Glassmaker's Row?" Doctor Basha blinked in disbelief.

"Don't act surprised," I informed him. "I know you're a Sidereal."

"Oof! Blasted paradox!" He grimaced. Almost immediately, Doctor Basha appeared to be thirty years younger and a foot taller with a long white braid of hair and a pair of fascinating silvery bracelets on his wrists, which were crafted to look like spiders. He adjusted his glasses and sighed heavily, his hands on his hips. "Dear Maidens, I suppose I should have known better than to try to a Resplendent Destiny on the legendary Godchaser!" He remarked dryly.

Godchaser giggled, sounding unforgivably smug.

"So who are you, really?" I pressed.

"You can call me Sirus. Chosen of Serenity, and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Rivers and Waterworks," he bowed dramatically. "It's a pleasure to actually meet you. I do love your work."

"My fountain?" I smiled slightly.

"Among other things. Clean water is more important than most people realize in this ignorant age," he replied. "I'd love to discuss it further now that you have me unmasked, but I'm afraid that my time here is rather limited, and I did distinctly see you conversing with the Emissary. It's unwise to trust him!" He reprimanded me.

"And I'm supposed to accept that warning coming from a Sidereal?" I frowned.

"You have a point," Doctor Basha... or rather, Sirus sighed heavily. "Well, hate us all you like for the mess we've made, but do keep in mind that the Bureau of Destiny is not a unified oppressive entity! Every Division is divided on many issues, even the Cerulean Lute... and we're supposed to be the _serene_ ones!" he finished.

"Yes, I've noticed that. But why is it that no one can remember you?" I demanded.

"Oh, I'm not permitted to share that information," he replied. "And my superiors are already bound to be upset about you bursting my very useful doctor disguise!"

"I broke your disguise because I knew you were a Sidereal?" I demanded. "What's paradox?"

"It would take me hours to explain and even then, you wouldn't understand," he sighed. "Suffice to say, it's meant to keep us on our best behavior."

"Hm," I observed. "I suppose something has to. Tell me, Sirus... do you know the name Himitsu?" I asked, throwing all caution to the wind.

The Sidereal paled. "Himitsu?" He pressed, as if he was sure he hadn't heard me correctly.

"Yes. That's the name that I know him by, anyway... though I've also heard him called "Iron Lotus" among other things. Is he a friend of yours?

"Absolutely not! Himitsu is a fiend who ought to be audited a thousand times! He cannot be trusted at all!" Sirus informed me. "He'll almost certainly get you killed!"

"Tell me something I don't know," I snorted, unimpressed. I did notice that he'd said the word "audit" and thought immediately of Rhapsody... but if she and her Lunar friend were not already mixed up in some mess with Sidereals, I figured it would be dangerous to set any of them onto her trail.

"In fact, possibly the only person in all of Creation more dangerous than Himitsu is the man you were just meeting with," Sirus replied.

"The Emissary?" I wondered.

He nodded, a very grave expression on his face. "Deal with him at your own peril."

"I don't think he's too bad," I admitted. "He did help me finish my fountain."

"It's done?" Sirus asked.

"See for yourself," I gestured to the fountain. The Sidereal fell to his knees and put both his hands in the water. He tasted it, and then splashed it in the air like a child, an expression of absolute awe on his face.

"Veritas?" Sirus wondered.

I'd taken his moment of distraction as an opportunity to vanish, hopping back onto the roof where I'd met the Emissary. Sirus looked around for a moment, clearly trying to catch sight of me... or perhaps only to determine whether or not he was being watched himself. Content that no one of consequence could see him, he smiled slightly and promptly disappeared as if he had never been.

That was an impressive trick!

Without waiting to see if the Sidereal would reappear, I took off running off into the night.

When I made it back to my manse two days later, I found more trouble waiting for me. The door on top of the hill was ajar, and when I put my hands on the walls, I detected a strange disturbance, some kind of unfamiliar energy at work. Very quietly, I crept down the stairs but did not use the main entrance to my workshop. Godchaser guided me to a secret passage that began in the hearthstone room and let out on the airship dock some forty feet above the floor. Hiding behind the first warbird, I evaluated the intruders.

There were three of them, and they were all glowing from the Essence they'd expended. The first was an angry-looking man in utilitarian clothing, surrounded by a red aura with the astrological symbol for Mars burning on his brow. Beside him was a woman dressed like a prostitute with knives strapped to her thighs. She was smoking something... tobacco or opium, I couldn't be sure of which, and was surrounded by a distinct purple aura. Sitting across from the two of them in my chair was a blond woman dressed in a very nice black and gold kimono who was glowing green. Her nose was in a book and she wore a little pair of golden glasses that made her look very much like my childhood history tutor... the first woman I'd decided that I was in love with. I would have found very attractive if had not realized immediately what she was.

"Sidereals!" Godchaser yelped.

There were Sidereals in my manse! I stayed where I was and watched them, almost holding my breath.

"Someone's beaten us here," The purple Sidereal observed, glancing from my open tool cabinet to the bucket and pile of rags I'd been using to clean I AM's console and the floor. "Do you think it might be Perfect?"

"That's impossible!" The angry red Sidereal scoffed. "No Solars survived the war! Perfect's been dead for 1,500 years. And even if she has reincarnated like everyone says, she can't have been here already! It took all of our personal Essence to get through those doors! And even if you subtract what we put into the Harmonic Adapter..." He fell silent, glancing at each of the women. Neither of them seemed convinced.

"But what if she's _not_ a brand-new Solar?" The purple Sidereal protested. "What if Perfect Mechanical Soul is back? We're all dead! That bitch makes Paradox like nobody's business!"

"Vivian, Perfect isn't coming to kill us!" The red Sidereal surveyed my manse with a disinterested snort. "Although frankly, I am a little disappointed that the Godchaser isn't here. I've heard that Chejop Kejak would give an undisclosed favor to get his hands on it."

"Well, I don't know about that," The green Sidereal sighed heavily, flipping through her voluminous pages of notes. "Himitsu said..."

" _Himitsu_ is going to get us all killed!" The red Sidereal snapped. "Think about it! Where is Sam?" He prompted.

The two women glanced at one another but did not respond. They both looked worried.

"See my point now? Sam goes to meet with Himitsu and he doesn't come back. We don't get any notice, no new orders... and he's just _gone_?" He snorted. "He's probably _dead_!"  
"Well, if we are all about to be killed, I want it to go on record and say that it was _not_ my idea to go after Perfect!" The purple Sidereal protested. "We've already got _enough_ trouble with Shadowsbane and the Faeslayer! If the three of them join forces with the Emissary, it'll be the Three Circles Society all over again, and I'm handing in my resignation to the Bureau!"

Although I could not remember anything specific about the organization he mentioned, the words "Three Circles Society" sent a chill racing down my spine.

"You can't resign from the Bureau of Destiny!" The green Sidereal protested.

"Which is why it's the worst job in the world!" The purple Sidereal replied, lighting up to smoke some more. I was beginning to suspect that she never really stopped. Not that I blamed her. From the sound of things, the Sidereals were even more disorganized and disillusioned than Sirus had implied.

The green Sidereal took something out of her pocket and slowly approached I AM. She attached it to a connection cable and waited, surveying the sea of numbers and glyphs that suddenly flooded the room.

"Well?" The red Sidereal put his hands on his hips.

"It's got some kind of encryption on it. A new one," she observed.

"Of _course_ it does! Fucking Twilights!" The red Sidereal rolled his eyes.

Godchaser smirked. I didn't say anything, but I would congratulate her for whatever it was that she'd done once the Sidereals were gone.

"Well, would _you_ leave something like this alone?" The green Sidereal pressed.  
"What kind of question is that?" The red Sidereal demanded.  
"If you didn't know anything, wouldn't you try to find out what had happened?" She clarified.  
"No. Because I'm not stupid!" The red Sidereal replied.

The green Sidereal sighed. "I don't think it has anything to do with being stupid. It's about not knowing enough to be afraid. These new Solars are ignorant. And that's our fault in a way, isn't it? So why are we stealing more information from them? If they don't know where they went wrong, won't they be more inclined to repeat their past mistakes?"  
"Damnit, Whisper!" The red Sidereal snapped. "You may be our field supervisor, but I've had enough of your Gold Faction bullshit! I don't care what _you_ personally think of Solars! All I care about is whether or not I'm going to have to kill one today!"

"You're missing the point, Jonah! We _shouldn't_ be doing this!" Whisper protested, her voice shrill and piercing. She sounded like she was either about to scream or cry.

"Calm down, Whisper! Jonah's just frustrated. And we can't all be Chosen of Battles, sifu," The purple Sidereal scolded, "Since Sam disappeared you've been ripping into Whisper nonstop and that's not helping this situation at all!"

"Vivian, _don't_ defend the Goldie!" The red Sidereal, Jonah, snapped. "Let's just do what we came for and get out of here."

"Yeah, before the Godchaser latches onto our Essence and paradoxes all of us!" The purple Sidereal rolled her eyes.

Godchaser grinned very broadly and I knew that she had already identified each of them... which meant that even if they donned one of their exceptional disguises she would immediately know who they really were.

The thought made me very smug. Whisper watched the small device she had connected to I AM for a moment and then unplugged it.

"Maker, they're taking all our data!" Godchaser hissed. "Do something!"

"Shh! Godchaser, they can't know you're here! It's you they're looking for!" I waited until the Sidereals started fighting with one another again and then took off Godchaser, rolling her up and tossing her in the open hatch of the nearest warbird. She peeked out almost immediately and stared at me in confusion.

"Stay put!" I warned. "No matter what!"

Seeing that my uninvited guests were about to leave, I leapt down from my perch and stopped Jonah in front of the exit. He blinked in surprise.

"Going somewhere?" I demanded, crossing my arms and glaring at him.

"We were just leaving." Vivian tugged on Jonah's arm. He only brushed her away.

"Oh, I don't think so! Not until you explain what you are doing here!" As Jonah made an attempt to sidestep me in order to get himself in a more advantageous position, I caught his wrist. He easily evaded my grasp and tried to retaliate with a move I knew very well. I countered him.

"Snake Style," The red Sidereal observed. "I wasn't expecting that."

"I wasn't expecting to come home to three Sidereals myself. Today is full of surprises! So you're a Chosen of Battles? What exactly does that mean?" I asked.

"None of your business," Jonah replied.

"Wrong answer," I attempted to wrestle him to the ground, but he swept my feet out from under me. As I tried to jump up, he caught me with an extremely forceful palm strike that sent me skidding across the floor on my back. For a moment I couldn't breath and I began to realize that I hadn't really thought things through. I couldn't necessarily subdue three Sidereals as easily as I could a handful of Snow Owls or bandit monks. They were Exalts themselves, at least as strong as a Dragonblooded, and possibly even stronger than me.

Possibly? No, most definitely - Jonah in particular! Whatever bureaucratic body they worked for had sent the three of them out _expecting_ that they might run into me! I was definitely in over my head!

"Not bad," Jonah admitted, cracking his knuckles. "But you won't beat me with just Snake Style." He seized me by the collar.

Without looking down, I fumbled around on the table behind me for anything I might use as a weapon. When my fingertips brushed a teleportation circuit, I knew I had what I needed. "Then I suppose it's a good thing I've got some other tricks up my sleeve!" I shot back.

I fueled the circuit with as much Essence as I dared and gasped for breath as the world around me exploded into fragments of light. One moment I was on the floor in Jonah's grasp, the next I was falling into one of my bookshelves from two floors up. As I scrambled to my feet and dodged several heavy tomes, I saw that one of the volumes that had nearly landed on my head was marked with three circles in gold on its white leather cover.

It was a spellbook!

That moment was clearly fortuitous, and so I seized it. With my head still spinning from my reckless teleportation, I wasn't sure that I would succeed at whatever I attempted, but I was prepared to try sorcery... so I supposed that had to count for something. I threw open the book and stared at the title of the spell.

 _The_ _Ravenous_ _Fire._

That sounded promising. I evaluated the instructions for a moment and blinked in surprise as I suddenly realized that sorcery was like _mathematics_! I'd never expected it to be so _easy_!

The incantation rolled off my tongue effortlessly. It took me a moment to realize that what I was doing was reshaping the fundamental laws of Creation to conform to my will. That was when the spellcasting actually became a little scary... but I was already too far along to stop.

The Sidereals didn't see me until it was already too late. Fire poured from my fingertips like dragon's breath and went where mind told it to, burning leaves and rubble but avoiding anything important as it chased the horrified Sidereals out of my manse.

Their shouts and screams assured me that they'd escaped, but only by the skin of their teeth. I didn't really want to kill them, but I did want to make sure they got the message that I wasn't someone to be trifled with. When I was sure they were gone, I casually went back down to the floor and picked up the green Sidereal's little device which was completely incinerated.

"Well, whatever they wanted to steal... they didn't get it," I observed.

Godchaser cautiously hovered down from where I had left her. She examined I AM for a moment and then spent a long silent moment staring at the burnt stick. "Not steal, sabotage." Godchaser paused. "Maker, I think there's something the Sidereals don't want us to know."

"Beyond the fact that _they_ _exist_?" I hazarded a guess.

"That is annoying, isn't it?" Godchaser replied with a snort. "I wish I remembered more."

"There wasn't anything in the data you retrieved from I AM?" I pressed.

"No!" She sighed in defeat. "And I am getting very frustrated!"

"You're not the only one," I paused. "I think Kahn might know something. But he obviously doesn't want his men to hear it, so we'll have to get him alone."

"Ah!" Godchaser exclaimed. "Do you want me to find him for you then? I can track his Essence!" She volunteered.

"No, we're not leaving here just yet," I glanced at my reflection in the glass of I AM's enormous screen. After the spell I'd just cast, I was burning very brightly. There was no way I'd make it anywhere as I was.

"Oh, you _are_ glowing a lot, aren't you?" Godchaser observed. "And I heard lots of shouting from where you put me inside the warbird. What did you do? Did you cast a spell?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Oh, good!" She exclaimed. "Which one?"

" _The_ _Ravenous_ _Fire_ ," I replied.

"Ah! Useful! Could you cast it again?" She pressed.

I hesitated " _Yes,_ " I admitted.

"You know what that means, don't you?" Godchaser smirked. "Because before you said..."

"Yes!" I groaned. "I'm a sorcerer! Are you happy?"

"Hee!" Godchaser giggled. "You just used one of the words on your list!"

I'd completely forgotten that "sorcerer" had been on my list as well.

"Keep gloating and I will dismantle you!" I warned, waving a wrench at her. Godchaser swooped behind the nearest worktable.

"Eeep!" She shrieked dramatically.

I put my hands on my hips and stared up at the sliver of sunlight that cut through my broken roof. As soon as I had a reasonable supply of food and water, I knew that nothing short of the end of time would convince me to leave my manse... even if I did have to chase Sidereals out every day.

I was done being "Recluse", hiding under wagons and avoiding the critical gaze of those saw me only as a monumental failure, an arrogant mere mortal who'd dared to reach too high.

I casually scrawled my surname in chalk across the floor, the same flamboyant characters I'd always used to sign my work when I'd been employed by the wealthiest and most powerful Dynasts in the Realm. But as I evaluated that familiar signature, I realized that just as I was no longer "Recluse" - I wasn't "Master Ilumio" either. I scrubbed out the chalk lines with my sleeve and drew a large circle with a line directly through its center. "Godchaser, what do you think?"

She hovered over to where I sat on the floor and stared at my work in bewilderment. "What is it?"

"It's my new signature," I replied, thinking of how the Emissary had marked my fountain.

"But it just looks like your caste mark!" She protested.

" _I_ _know,_ " Now when _that_ started appearing on public works throughout the city... I imagined it would turn a few heads!

"Oops!" Godchaser exclaimed. "I'm sorry. I said "Caste Mark". I know that's on the list."

"It's all right!" I laughed.

"Maker?" Godchaser wavered slightly, as if she weren't entirely convinced that I was being serious.

"We need to have a talk, you and I. I've been meaning to tell something you for a long time now, but I haven't had the chance. Things have been too busy, and until we made it back here you weren't able to stay awake for very long. Godchaser, I want you to throw away your list." I finished.

"Okay!" Godchaser agreed readily. "No more stupid list!"

Not much of a chore for her, it seemed.

"And now we're going to make a new list," I paused.

Her face fell. "Awww!" She protested.

"This list is for me. And you'll like it!" I smiled slightly. "You'd better start recording. I'm only going to say this once!"

I was still glowing very brightly from the Essence I'd expended and in a way, that seemed particularly appropriate. "I, Veritas Ilumio, in the interests of living up to the ostentatious name given to me by my long-suffering, dearly departed parents and also in the interests of better serving the whole of Creation as is now my responsibility... am making a list. My faithful Godchaser will record this list as a testament to the sincerity of my intentions, and she may play it back to me, in whole or in part, whenever I violate one of the four rules that I am about to lay down for myself."

"First and foremost, Godchaser has never steered me wrong. I will make more effort to heed her warnings, and because I am thankful for her loyal service, I will no longer threaten to dismantle her... more than once a week."

"Ooh! That's unfair!" Godchaser protested.

"Second. I am _never_ going to hurt anyone I don't have to! But I am going to go well out of my way to inconvenience certain Sidereals who seem to think that they can't be held accountable for what they're doing!"

"Hah! Much better! I support that rule!" Godchaser giggled.

"Keep listening, I'm not done yet! Third. Everything I do, I do because it's right." I vowed. "I'm not going to throw my life away, but I'm not going to hide either. If something needs fixing, I'm going to fix it. And if that means that more than a few people are going to find out what I am... well, that's what it means. If I'm hunted and hated for doing what the Unconquered Sun wants me to do, I don't care. It's entirely worth it."

Godchaser stared at me incredulously, obviously wondering if I'd really said what she thought I had.

"Last but not least, I will thoroughly purge certain ugly words from my vocabulary. I will _never_ _again_ refer to myself as a demon, damned, monster, Unclean, or Anathema! If I require a descriptive term, I have plenty of more accurate ones to choose from. I _may_ call myself Solar Exalted, Twilight Caste, Copper Spider... or Godchaser's Maker."

The moment I finished my new list, I finally saw the aggravating flaw in Godchaser's re-engineered "hover" function. With an incoherent exclamation of joy, my companion whizzed up into the air, and got herself stuck in the ceiling.

It took me three hours to get her down.


	16. Chapter 15-The Archaeologists (Sapphire)

**Chapter** **15**

 **The** **Archaeologists**

"A fine little circus you've got down here," A voice remarked casually.

I turned slowly at the sound of those words, suppressing the overwhelming desire I felt to sock whoever was making fun of Team Firewander right in the teeth. When I did see the arrogant jerk, my temper cooled somewhat. A hothead and a fighter I may be... but I am not an idiot.

The voice I'd heard belonged to a youngish Immaculate monk, probably an Air Aspect Dragonblood judging by the frosty color of his skin, and the absolutely nauseating aura of pretentiousness that surrounded him. Of course, being the rightful Enlightened Princes of the Earth, Dragonbloods can get a little nasty around ordinary mortals like myself. Namely, they're liable to kill you if you make yourself too much of a nuisance.

To be fair, Team Firewander wasn't really at its best. Bruja, our "Purveyor of Brute Force" was picking her teeth with a knife clearly "made for guttin' folk" while Little Fox, our resident Djala had just let loose a belch that absolutely boggled the mind and was scratching himself obscenely. Since it was insufferably cold on site, our Southerner Mehmed, and consummate pretty boy Kasashi were crouched together over a kerosene lamp warming their hands. They were both dressed in more layers of clothing than I had in my entire wardrobe, and looked supremely pathetic. Kasashi in particular hated Nexus's winter weather... which consisted of rain, more rain, and gray slush the consistency of old porridge sloughing off rooftops.

That being said, we all probably smelled like a pack of wet dogs.

Though he scoffed at the lot of us archaeologists, I could tell that the Dragonblood was a little intimidated by the sheer scale of the ruins he'd just entered into. The ceiling was a full twenty feet above our heads and both it and the floor were inlaid with steel tracks etched with arcane patterns in different kinds of jade and orichalcum. Of course, the tracks themselves paled in comparison to the enormous construct that hung still partially suspended from the upper track, glowering at all of us as we worked. It was made to look like a dragon, and when we succeeded in clearing the rubble from around it, we expected that the craft would be nearly seventy feet long, a perfectly preserved piece of engineering more than 1,500 years old.

"You, noble monk, have just set foot upon the legendary Whispering Serpent. We call that ugly bugger 'Fluffy"," Little Fox jerked his thumb at the construct, though no one had asked for his input. The Dragonblood gave him a very condescending look, which didn't particularly surprise me. Fox wasn't known for his manners and didn't give a rat's ass what most Immaculates thought of him, particularly since they were generally complacent with the idea of his people remaining enslaved.

Mehmed gestured to the marks on the wall. "The Whispering Serpent is... well, it is like a tunnel for transportation. There are these great machines which fix themselves to the tracks you see on the floor and the ceiling over there and they..."

Of course, that was when the ground started shaking. Fox glanced up at me, obviously concerned.

"I'm sure it's quite fascinating, but I am here on much more important matters," The Dragonblood snorted, dismissing him. "What was that just now? A tremor?"

"A small one," I replied casually, as if it was nothing to be worried about. "People say that they're caused by all of the explosives we use excavating."

"And you don't believe that?" The Dragonblood pressed, reading me effortlessly.

"Nothing we've ever used is strong enough to rock the city's foundation. We'd have no permits if it was. Personally, I think it's fae. We are halfway under Firewander after all." I watched for the Dragonblood's response.

He didn't try to lecture me about meddling in fae business or trying to put myself in a position higher than the one I was born into. The Dragonblood looked honestly concerned, and that worried me. "Do all of these ruins date from the Shogunate Era?" He wondered, pausing for a moment. It sounded a bit like he thought he was asking a legitimate question. The fact that he'd mistaken ruins from the High First Age for Shogunate Era ones surprised me.

I laughed despite myself. "If you think they were building stuff like Fluffy here during The Shogunate you are sadly mistaken! Nexus is over four thousand years old. The city was built on an unbelievably good foundation, which is the only reason any of us are still living here today. Seven hundred years ago, some bad floods filled the old streets with river sediment. Rather than clean up the mess, the Shogunate rebuilt a new Nexus on top of the old city. Of course, it flooded again, and everything the Realm had built on _sand_ sank. There are Shogunate and Contagion Era ruins under every building in the Market District, but down here is where the real fun is. This is the Nexus. The _original_ Nexus. High First Age. Palaces of great golden demons, giant constructs," I gestured to the Whispering Serpent.

"I'm sure you saw the Tomb of Night before you came in here," Kasashi added. "That tomb was built _on_ _top_ _of_ _a_ _building_ taller than the current Guild Hall."

"Yeah, and did you know that this site was discovered by a monk?" Little Fox chimed in.

"No, Fox!" Bruja scolded, knowing the story that Fox was going to tell.

"Oh yeah! A couple of kids found a dead monk outside the Tomb of Night. He was missing an arm, so they looked for it. And they actually found it all the way down here!" he finished proudly.

The monk did not look happy to hear that.

"It's the truth, I swear!" Little Fox protested. "You can check the University records!"

Mehmed elbowed Fox. "You are making trouble for us!" He hissed.

I paused, noticing two more Immaculates clumsily working their way down the narrow ladder which lead down from the Shogunate Era dig two stories above us. "Just who are you people anyway?" I demanded, turning to the Dragonblood with my hands on my hips.

He didn't yell at me, though he definitely narrowed his eyes. My crew stared in shock, unable to believe that I'd just addressed a Dragonblood like I would any other intruder on our site. Of course, if our visitor had been any ordinary Immaculate monk, he would have certainly beaten me within an inch of my life for insulting him. As it was, his reaction... or lack thereof, told me everything I'd wanted to know about his identity. I started feeling a little sick to my stomach, knowing that I was about to begin what would have to be the cleverest misdirection I'd ever organized.

 _We'd_ _been_ _caught._

"My name is Summer Storm, and I've been sent by Dean Peleps Nyubo of the University of Nexus." The Dragonblood replied coolly, not even raising his voice. "Take me to your supervisor at once."

"Well, Summer," I smirked. From the looks of him, he surely went by "Storm"... but I wasn't in the mood to be cooperative, considering that I was about to lose my career and probably wind up back in jail. "I _am_ the supervisor!"

"You are?" He frowned, surveying all of my tools hanging off of my belt and bandoleer. His eyes stopped for a moment on the pair of lovely antique firewands I wore holstered on my hips.

"Yup. Name's Sapphire Indari," I nodded, gesturing to my crew. "And these fine folks you see here are the red-headed stepchildren of the University's Archaeological Department – colloquially known as "Team Firewander". Bruja, Little Fox, Mehmed, and Kasashi." Each of them looked up at the sound of their names. If they were wondering why I hadn't mentioned Val, who was technically _my_ supervisor, they didn't say anything.

"Oh." The Dragonblood smiled slightly. "So you're Sapphire the Heretic? Dean Peleps warned me about you. Where's Professor Valen Riverborn?"

"Val is working in the next section up ahead. I'll take you to him," I offered, not at all surprised that Dean Peleps had warned the Immaculates to steer clear of me. I was well aware that my "controversial" opinions and casual disregard of authority would have gotten me expelled from The University long ago if the Department of Archeology's most brilliant researcher did not stubbornly plead my case every time I came up for review. Val was a Fellow himself and a favorite of the University's most generous benefactor, the eclectic Master Adamant Quill, who was also one of the richest men in Nexus.

I led Summer Storm and his lackeys through the series of finely-crafted doors that it had taken us months to blast open and then down the stairs into the main temple. Two more quakes followed, each a little stronger than the last. The Whispering Serpent track came to a stop before a glass atrium with patterns of the night sky etched in silver and gold above our heads. Before us was a massive marble white structure, easily eighty feet tall with a set of monstrous green brass doors. Like the doors of The Whispering Serpent's access corridor, they had been opened with the repeated and liberal use of powerful explosives.

"Neat, isn't it?" I smirked, noticing that Little Fox was following just behind the two silent Immaculates who had finally caught up with Summer Storm and myself. He had a wicked look in his beady little eyes, and I motioned for him to get lost. The Djala caused almost as much trouble for Val as I did, and I loved him for that, but I figured it wouldn't be wise to further test the patience of the Dragonblood I'd already been mocking.

I could only hope that he already found me abrasive enough that he would not insist upon following me. "Wait here. I'll be right back." I gestured to a pair of makeshift benches near the Whispering Serpent's track. "I'd take you in further, but it's a little hazardous. Especially with the tremors."

That was a lie, but the Immaculates bought it... and their supervisor did seem to hate me as much as I hoped he might. I knew he'd be launching a formal complaint but I'd deal with that when I actually had to and not one moment before. The three monks stared up at the mesmerizing star patterns that formed the ceiling of the Whispering Serpent's way-station and one of them gasped as the constellations suddenly began to move.

The High First Age was pretty impressive by anyone's standards.

As the Dragonblood examined the station's controls in bewilderment, I slipped through the brass doors into a very dark chamber, illuminated only by thirty-two panels of ever-shifting golden glyphs inscribed on pristine white marble. I smiled in satisfaction as I saw Val gnawing on his pencil, sitting on the foot of forty foot tall statue of solid orichalcum, a magical metal rarer and more valuable than gold.

The statue was of a god that the ancients believed reigned over even the Immaculate Dragons, a god called the Unconquered Sun. Excavating First Age sites all over Nexus, Val and I had run across him many times before. Usually he was depicted as a well-muscled, armored man with four arms, stern and serious in a manner that commanded respect. The massive idol we had discovered in this underground temple was singularly unique, and not only because it was the largest we had ever seen.

As opposed to looking down upon his worshippers with a haughty demeanor, the god had a very silly, endearing sort of smile on his face. He looked like a child's favorite uncle, or maybe even a fatherly figure. Put simply, it was impossible not to like him, and all of the bits of his prayers which were inscribed on the surrounding walls only made him seem even more wonderfully benevolent. Thought the worship of the Unconquered Sun during the High First Age had been omnipresent, whoever had built the temple that Val and I had been working diligently in had captured something very rare in monumental architecture, a sense of pure, genuine faith.

"The Big Guy" as we called him was Team Firewander's secret. We'd known about him almost six months and it was getting more and more difficult not to reveal our spectacular find to The University. Fox and Kasashi were getting particularly impatient, hoping for better pay... but Val and I had other priorities. There were thousands of ever-changing inscriptions on the walls surrounding the ancient god, and once his existence was revealed, it would only be a matter of time before the Guild swooped in and arranged to have him melted him down for the exorbitant price his orichalcum body would fetch. Not that they could do anything with the magical metal. The secrets of working it had been lost for centuries. It was really only useful to sorcerers, who attempted to draw ancient power out of it. I also heard that they used it to bargain with demons, which was something I didn't like at all.

Still, a job was a job, and I had to fund my research somehow.

The ground shook beneath my feet.

I winced. The earthquakes were getting more frequent, but our work wasn't finished! Of course, if the Immaculate Order learned that Val and I were in the process of translating ancient historical and religious texts that they hadn't had the opportunity to "edit", they would certainly seize all of our notes and probably execute the both of us.

I'd been dancing with death from the moment that Summer Storm and his companions had first arrived. There'd been rumors around the University for months about a trio of emotionless Immaculates grilling certain Fellows to find evidence of religious "backsliding" within the teaching and research staff. I'd expected an inquiry myself, given my reputation as a troublemaker, but I hadn't expected Summer Storm to come all the way down to our dig site, the very heart of our heretical machine.

Naturally, trying to dismiss the Immaculates outright would only have caused more trouble for us. Though I was sure that my crew and I could have taken out the two junior monks on our own turf, we definitely couldn't fight a Dragonblood... and if we gave any sign of resistance, that would have given the University reason to launch a full-scale investigation, which could only end badly for Team Firewander. Pretending that nothing was amiss and behaving as my usual sarcastic self was the only good option.

It wasn't hard for me to act like an irreverent idiot, and Summer Storm bought my act. Raised by a god-blooded prostitute who ran a teahouse full of black-market dealings and did a brisk trade in thamaturgy on the side, I'd learned from an early age how to lie flawlessly under pressure. The only thing that really made me nervous was knowing that Fox would never be able to keep his mouth shut if he was brought before Dean Peleps.

I'd been standing over Val for more than a minute when he finally noticed me. He pushed his glasses back up on his crooked nose and grinned.

I've known Val all my life. When we were children, our parents forbade us from playing together, which was why we became the best of friends. Val's father was a wealthy member of the Guild who sold my mother the teas she brewed only for her very best customers. Val and I were told that we were from different worlds, but I'd never been one to accept limitations, and Val never lorded over anyone. He had a sort of insufferable sweetness to him, which sometimes makes me jealous of his adorable little wife.

Although we're almost exactly the same age, Val looks much older than I do. A lifetime spent in libraries and fussing around in ancient ruins has given him a sort of stooping posture and a pale cast to his skin. His silvery hair is always a mess, coming loose from the ribbon he uses to tie it, and his eyes have such thick, permanent dark circles that some of his students at The University call him "Professor Badger". Personally, I always considered him more of a ferret. One minute he's stern and serious, the next he's bounding around like a child.

"Sapphire!" Val exclaimed, in fine "ferret" form. "Finally! I need your help!"

His eyes drifted towards the ledge that surrounded the entire main chamber about twenty feet above the floor. There were sets of inscriptions far above ground level that had once been accessible via a set of moving marble steps, but since neither of us possessed the Essence to activate the ancient machine, our preferred method of recording them was for me to climb up the wall and recite aloud to Val so he could write down the information. We were both fluent in Old Realm, so the process went fairly quickly... but as we had learned over our tenure at the site, the inscriptions were subject to change without warning.

Although I spoke Old Realm with less effort than Val did, since my godblooded mother had always spoken it at home, his penmanship was beautiful and mine looked like a dozen bent nails driven into paper. "The inscriptions have all changed again! Could you climb up to the first panel on the west wall and start for me there?"

"I _could,_ " I replied, speaking in Old Realm, just in case one of the monks happened to be listening. Although it was possible that one or more of them knew the ancient tongue, it wasn't terribly likely.

The Immaculate Order had little use for the small, insignificant gods that were everywhere in the world, insisting that they be given their due feast days and no attention at any other time. Naturally, most people continued to provide for the gods who looked after them, citing that it made more sense to thank your local cattle goddess who would show up in person to bless your herds rather than the distant Dragons who'd put their "Enlightened" offspring in position to oppress the rest of us eternally.

"Val, you should know, with three Immaculates waiting outside... it might not be a good idea for me to start reciting prayers to our lovely demon-god here. They'll think we're Anathema." I finished, using the Immaculate Order's more-popular name for the Exalted of the Unconquered Sun, incredibly powerful beings suffused with divine power that had once ruled all of Creation. They, not the Dragonblooded of the Shogunate, were the builders of all the treasures that we unearthed.

What exactly "Anathema" ought to be called was a subject of much contention amongst the Team Firewander. Mehmed was a dyed-in-the wool heretic like me, but he'd been a soldier once and virtually every curse word he had in his repertoire was "bloody, explicative, demon explicative". Bruja, heavily entrenched in her own particular tribal superstitions referred to the Anathema with an Icewalker word that I could barely pronounce. Fox actively hated Dragonbloods, and referred to anyone who gave them trouble as "the good guys". The son of a Dragonblooded provincial governor himself, Kasashi paid lip service to the Dragons... but he was young and still rather sore about not Exalting himself. As true students of history, Val and I were likewise disinclined to let religious propaganda get in the way of solid research.

Though I wouldn't dare admit it to anyone, least of all Val, I'd developed a very un-academic fondness for the ancient sun god and had begun leaving him small offerings when no one was looking. Being in his shadow made me feel safe, despite the increasingly violent tremors.

"Anathema? As opposed to run-of-the-mill heretics?" Val laughed slightly, though I could tell that the news I had just delivered did not sit well with him. Either that, or he was observed with the tremors which had started up yet again.

"You and I are far too spectacular to be ordinary heretics!" I retorted. Val picked up his notes and quickly put them back inside his satchel.

"Well, let's not keep our fine company waiting!" He proclaimed, his voice absolutely dripping with sarcasm. The two of us linked arms and marched out to meet Summer Storm and his companions.

"Professor Valen Riverborn, I presume?" The Dragonblooded observed. He did not seem impressed by Val's permanently-flustered, disorganized appearance or the gratuitous amount of cheap sepia ink that stained his fingertips and clothing.

"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," Val admitted.

"My name is Summer Storm. I have been sent to evaluate the integrity of your Team Firewander. As you've doubtless heard, there have been whispers of anarchic behavior and heresy amongst certain members of the Department of Archaeology. My companions and I have been tasked by your Dean Peleps to root out such... undesirables," he explained.

"Well, my team may be a bit "rough around the edges" but they're good folk. We dig mostly under Firewander, you understand, so sometimes we run into patches of Wyld or beasts of one kind or another. Not to mention the tremors. There's no telling when a big one will tear out the very ground beneath our feet " Val explained. "In the past ten years, a dozen researchers have been killed on this portion of the Whispering Serpent. Sapphire and I have only one student with us, and that's Kasashi. The other three you met are mercenaries. They're here to kill fae and do most of the heavy lifting. Well, that's what Bruja and Mehmed do anyway. I'm not sure about Fox."

"Fox can keep goblins talking about farts for five hours," I replied with a smirk.

In my opinion, Fox was the most useful member of Team Firewander. He'd started reading Old Realm after only a few weeks, and he could map a place completely after seeing it just once. He wasn't a bad fighter either.

"Oh, right. I'd almost forgotten about the goblins," Val laughed at the memory.

The Immaculates looked confused.

Goblins were a common type of fae. They weren't very smart, but they could hold a conversation. Better still, if you got them good and confused, you could usually avoid having to fight them... and what Fox lacked in physical strength, he certainly made up for in creativity.

"That's something else which confuses me. If there are fae and earthquakes, not to mention Anathema traps... why are you mortals down here?" The Dragonblood pressed.

"We're cheaper to hire than you Enlightened folks," I replied without thinking.

"Sapphire, that's enough!" Val scolded me. "For the most part, sir, we salvage magical materials. The oldest ruins have the greatest quantities of them."

"Surely some of these things are better left alone?" It was the first that one of the other monks had spoken, and the look that Summer Storm gave him was absolutely paralyzing. His murderous gaze was broken only barely by yet another earthquake. I'd lost count of how many there had been. A lot, probably. More than there ever had been on days or months previous. They were getting worse. Building up to... something, I didn't know what.

"The University doesn't think so. And might I add, the Heptagram purchases most of our jade," Val informed the Dragonblood, who looked somewhat subdued upon hearing that we were at least marginally employed by the Realm's most exclusive school of sorcery to supply their Dragonblooded students with a good quantity of magical materials necessary for crafting artifacts and weapons, like the white staff that Summer Storm carried himself.

"All the same," the Dragonblood replied. "It will be necessary for us to speak with the members of your team. All of them, including the mercenaries."

"Well, then let's go speak with them! I'm sure that you gentlemen are very busy!" Val began to head back in the direction of Fluffy, obviously eager to get Summer Storm a solid distance away from the temple.

"Oh no, not so fast!" Summer Storm interrupted him. He stopped just inside the first door. "We want to talk to each of them individually. In a civilized environment."

"What do you mean by civilized?" I frowned.

"At the University. Where we may open and close doors instead of blowing them from their frames with explosives? Where we may sit in chairs instead of on piles of rubble? Where we may breathe air which does not reek of mold and urine?" The Dragonblood paused, waiting for Val to respond.

"Well, Mehmed and Kasashi are probably freezing to death anyway," Val sighed in defeat. "I was hoping to work until sunset, but I suppose we could call it a day."

"Yourself and your extraordinarily rude assistant are not needed, Professor Riverborn. Dean Peleps has personally vouched for your character. It is the integrity of your... hired men that is of concern," Summer Storm finished. "We'll take them all with us."

"And bring them back?" Val pressed. "I've paid them partially in advance, you understand? Due to the hazardous nature of the job."

"Everything will be settled tomorrow," the Dragonblood said. But the way he spoke that final word made it sound more like a well-rehearsed lie.

"Very well. Though I will warn you, if you think Sapphire is bad, Little Fox is worse," Val said. "Fox doesn't mean what he says... well, honestly I suspect that he does mean it, but he's never had any proper schooling."

"You are a Professor, are you not?" Summer Storm turned to Val with a scowl. "Master Riverborn, it would be advisable for you to stop excusing the behavior of your charges and begin educating them. You will find that not all of my peers are as forgiving as I am."

Without another word, the Dragonblood swooped past the both of us, followed closely by his men.

"So, are we really calling it a night?" I asked.

"Of course not," Val replied, his eyes fixed on the darkness that the three Immaculates had vanished into. "We're working until they drag us out of here in chains. You've got to see the door I found!"

"Door?" I immediately covered my mouth, hoping no one had heard my expression of shock. Every door we'd encountered so far had required a pile of explosives to get through and probably more time than we had left, but it was hard not to be enthusiastic about another new room, another glimpse into a lost world that was too beautiful to imagine.

Once we could hear the sounds of everyone climbing up the later, Val and I dove back into the temple. While he scribbled in his notes and murmured about where he'd left off, I snuck into his bag and found two peaches from the tree in his yard. His wife usually put a few in with his research for all of us to eat as we worked. As kind as Lily was, it wasn't difficult to see why Val was so loyal to her.

Not that he hadn't had other offers. Resolving to be somewhat less of a bastard in my future lives, I set the two peaches in front of the Unconquered Sun and quickly mumbled one of his prayers.

"What are you doing?" Val demanded.

"Nothing," I lied, moving to the left just a little so that I was standing in front of the peaches I'd taken out of his pack.

"Are you talking to "the Big Guy" again?" Val laughed slightly. "I thought you didn't have any use for Gods?"

"Well, we both know that Immaculate Philosophy is bunk. Any archaeologist can tell you that, and most of the Gods aren't worth the incense you've got to burn to get their attention," I replied.

"Most of the Gods?" Val laughed again.

"Burning Feather is easy enough to find if you've got a bottle of sake," I remarked, naming my own grandmother... better known as "the Goddess of Intoxicants" who had often nursed her ferocious hangovers at my mother's teahouse. "This is different," I finished, knowing I probably sounded as defensive as I felt.

"Oh yes, this is serious heresy! Because you mean it, don't you, Sapphire? You've grown attached to this place," Val sighed. "Is that why you're leaving this great golden demon our lunch?"

"I don't know," I muttered. "It seems like the right thing to do, especially if they're going to tear this place to pieces. You said so yourself. We're finished here. We can only pray we're not also finished at the University. I don't want to go look for a real job."

"And so you think old Sol Invictus will protect us from Dean Peleps?" Val sighed.

Together, Val and I both stared up at the god.

"I dunno," I paused. "A god like that might protect you from _anything_."

Clearly amused by my confession, Val sauntered around behind the enormous idol and I followed him. He stared up at the inscription on the slab of stone that made up the sun god's throne with his hands on his hips. It was one of the few that changed frequently, almost too fast to watch. Val studied it for a moment, his fingertips hovering a few inches away from the glittering lines of gold that ran through the flawless white marble.

"So where's this door of yours, Val?" I wondered, anxiously tapping my foot. At first I wasn't sure what he was waiting for, but then I saw the pattern myself.

 _"I_ _never_ _was,_ _am_ _always_ _to_ _be,  
No_ _one_ _ever_ _saw_ _me,_ _nor_ _ever_ _will,  
And_ _yet_ _I_ _am_ _the_ _confidence_ _of_ _all,  
To_ _live_ _and_ _breathe_ _on_ _this_ _terrestrial_ _ball..."_

Oh!" I exclaimed. "It's a riddle! I know this one! The answer, it's..."

Before I said " _tomorrow_ ", the glyphs lined up precisely in the order that I had expected they would. Already ahead of me, Val pressed the correct glyph firmly with his thumb. The rest of the glyphs stopped moving, and behind us I heard a strange sound. The wall which had appeared seamless had opened with little more than a whisper, revealing a beautiful orichalcum door covered in what appeared to be living roses. The white blossoms were flawless, despite being hidden from light for so many centuries. Either they were artificial, or there was some serious sorcery involved in their preservation.

"See it now?" Val smirked, gesturing up to the inscription that he had asked me to read to him earlier, the first one on the west wall. I noticed that it had stopped moving also. Apparently Val was really onto something. "Now get up there and read me that panel, third section, followed by the third panel, second section!"

I sighed in defeat and put my right foot in the crack of the wall, seizing the nearest handhold I could, an irregularly shaped brick with barely enough space for me to dig my fingers in above it. Another two holds of similar size and I was on the first ledge. I studied the panel for a moment. It had not changed since the last time I'd read it, so I recited it quickly, almost completely from memory.

 _"You_ _see_ _many_ _stars_ _at_ _night_ _in_ _the_ _sky_ _but_ _find_ _them_ _not_ _when_ _the_ _sun_ _rises;_ _can_ _you_ _say_ _that_ _there_ _are_ _no_ _stars_ _in_ _the_ _heaven_ _of_ _day?_ _So,_ _O_ _man!_ _Because_ _you_ _behold_ _not_ _God_ _in_ _the_ _days_ _of_ _your_ _ignorance,_ _say_ _not_ _that_ _there_ _is_ _no_ _God."_

I smiled slightly. The long-dead priest who had composed the passage had clearly possessed a flare for the dramatic.

"Slow down!" Val ordered, furiously scribbling in his notebook.

"Complain, complain! We don't have all day, Val! It's probably almost dark already. If we're here too late, someone will come back looking for us!" I protested.

"Nobody can write Old Realm as fast as you speak it! Not all of us have Gods in our family, you know!" He reminded me. Ignoring his teasing, I leapt over to the ledge in front of the third panel, slipping just a little as a small tremor rocked the temple. "Oh, do be careful!" Val winced.

"Want to switch places?" I taunted, looking down on him.

"Don't be ridiculous. Your handwriting is illegible! I'd call it chicken scratch, but a chicken couldn't read it!" He replied.

"Val, chickens can't read," I put my hands on my hips and waltzed backwards and forwards along the ledge. Heights made Val nervous, and it was always funny to watch him squirm a little.

"Be careful!" He scolded.

I wasn't going to fall. Thanks to my mother, I'd had dance lessons from the time I'd been able to walk. I pulled my scarf off of my neck and tied it over my nose like a veil, adding a few turns and overblown gestures to demonstrate how comfortable I was standing on that six-inch ledge more than twenty feet above the ground. For the most part, my mother was a useless woman, more concerned with her kimonos and her account books than anything else, but she had taught me one thing that I did appreciate. _Never_ show fear.

"All right, stop goofing off!" Val sighed. "What's the fifth word in the second section?"

" _Fate,_ " I replied.

"Right," Val returned to his "door" and pressed the glyph for " _stars_ " followed by the glyph for " _fate_ ". The door immediately slid open with an audible hiss, revealing a staircase. Rose vines curled up the steps, and a faint white-gold light illuminated the way up.

"Wow. I guess we won't be needing any more dynamite," I stared in disbelief as I climbed back down to the floor. Val waited for me at the foot of the stairs.

"Going up?" He teased and then started up the steps.

Without hesitation, I bounded after him. We'd made our way up about four or five flights of stairs when we reached another orichalcum door. I immediately went for the handful of explosive charges I still had on my person.

Val stopped me. "I've got this, remember?"

He watched the door as he had the wall we had passed through and waited for a series of glyphs to line up. This time, the one he pressed read "compassion", "conviction", and "valor".

"How did you crack the code?" I wondered.

"It just came to me," Val admitted with a shrug. "I sensed there was something to it from the first time we noticed the inscriptions moving. And while you were occupied with those Immaculates, I sorted out what it was. But there's one more character I'm not seeing."

He studied the pattern again. The doors had not budged after he selected the glyph for courage, but that glowing glyph was holding steady while the rest continued to shift and change. Seeing a glyph I recognized, I immediately pushed it without considering the possible consequences of my rash action. The orichalcum door began to open slowly, with the sound of a great number of locking mechanisms churning inside of it.

Val stared at me in disbelief. I smiled slightly, noticing that I'd impulsively selected the glyph for " _temperance"_.

"It just came to me," I teased.

"The Four Noble Virtues," Val observed. "Of course, you would pick the one _you don't have,"_ he added with a slight smile.

"Temperance is no _fun_ ," I informed him.

Val rolled his eyes.

As the last lock disengaged and the door rolled open, Val and I stared in awe at the room we had discovered. It was huge, at least three times the size of the enormous temple. The walls were lined with tall, white marble columns veined in gold, and a faint glittering of energy above our heads showed the presence of some kind of arcane net holding up thousands of tons of rock and dirt that had almost fallen into the space.

It was a garden more beautiful than anything I had ever seen before. There were hedges of moon-white roses, oleander, and magnolia. A little curling path of silvery granite wove through dozens large old peach trees. There were all in need of pruning, apparently thriving despite the absence of sunlight and the amount of time that had surely passed since they had been sealed inside the vault that Val and I had just opened.

I picked a peach and bit into it. It was the most perfect thing I had ever tasted.

"These are amazing!" I exclaimed.

"Sapphire!" Val groaned. "You can't just eat the fruit! You don't know how long it's been here!"

"Sure I do! 1,500 years!" I winked. "But seriously, you've got to try one!"

I picked another peach and tossed it to him. "For research!"

He bit into the peach. His eyes widened and he turned to me. "Oh! Oh my goodness! It suddenly makes sense. In all the books, they're always talking about how good the food was. This is it. This is a First Age peach!" Val laughed.

"See? What did I tell you?" I smirked.

"But how is this possible? There's no sun, there's scarcely any water... it doesn't feel like the Wyld has intruded into this place!" Val wondered, dunking under the boughs of another fruit-laden tree.

"Um, my bet is on _that_. It must be some kind of First Age device," I pointed.

In the center of the garden there was a well made of white stone.

It radiated golden light, and the air churned around it, like a stormcloud in the moment before a lightning strike. "Who knows how long it's been running? There's definitely a lot of power in here. What if we've found the real source of the tremors?" I wondered. As if to confirm my guess, a massive tremor shook the floor beneath our feet. It was worse than any I had felt before, knocking me clear into Val, who also fell on his rear end.

"So this is where the tremors are coming from?" Val observed. "It looks like a well. But what is it doing?"

"Keeping the roses and the trees alive? Val, how should I know? I've never seen anything like it before! Maybe we should go get those Immaculates," I paused, biting my lip.

"They'll never let us down here again if they see this!" Val protested. "We won't even get credit for the find!"

"Val, I hate the thought of giving this place up as much as you do, but if this well is causing the tremors... what if it's failing? What if it stops doing whatever it's been doing for the past 1,500 years?" I gestured up at the ceiling. "That's the Big Market up there. Think about how many people could be hurt or killed if part of the piazza came crashing down into here."

We stared at one another in silence. Val chewed his pencil.

"It's worth sacrificing our careers to warn people about this," I finished.

"You and I have careers? Why, I thought we were unwanted stepchildren of second-rate University! Employers of heretics and anarchists!" Val smirked. Being sarcastic was his way of saying that he saw my point and was with me, even if he didn't particularly like the conclusion I'd arrived at. "You're right. Neither of us can use Essence, and that must be how this thing is controlled."

Val noticed that I had taken several steps closer to the well. "Sapphire, stay back!" He reprimanded.

"I'm not going to touch it!" I protested. "I just want to look inside!"

If Val said something more, I didn't hear him.

The light pouring from the well made it almost impossible for me to see whatever was glowing so powerfully, but as I stood there for a moment amid all of the tremendous rumbling that had started up again, I began to make out the shape of a woman in the well. It was not my own face, which Val most often described as "obstinate"... but that of a staggeringly beautiful stranger. Her red hair was cropped very short and she was dressed like a First Age queen. A brand between her brilliant green eyes burned with the light of the sun.

"Shit, Anathema!" I swore.

"Sapphire?" Val pressed.

"There's a demon in the well!" I pointed.

What I didn't tell Val was that I knew the woman. I was sure had seen her before, but I didn't know where. I stared at the demon. She reached for the surface of the water, and it rippled visibly, as if she was actually touching it.

"The demon is trying to get out!" I shouted. "What do we do?"

A huge tremor shook the garden, and I almost fell over. I instinctively put both of my hands down on the stone sides of the well to catch myself. That turned out to be a mistake. Searing pain blazed through my body and I collapsed to my knees. I caught a reek of something burning and suspected it was probably my own skin. My palms were seared black where I'd touched the well. Lying on my side in the soft grass, I was convinced that I was about to die... but I still couldn't bring myself to stand.

Only Val seizing my arm and wrenching it nearly out of my shoulder socket saved me. All around us, the lines of energy that had held up the crumbled ceiling were flickering and fading, causing huge chunks of stone to come crashing down.

"Run!" Val ordered.

While usually I was faster than my old friend, my feet moved like they were weighted down with lead. It was like the life had been drained out of me. I knew that many of the marvels of the ancient world ran on Essence, which was something gods, Anathema, and Dragonbloods all had to spare. For an ordinary mortal, or even a second-generation Godblood like myself, one's Essence and soul were essentially the same. Thanks to my diluted divine lineage, I didn't get drunk easily. I could name any alcohol by tasting it, and I could open the doors that my mother locked with her Charms... but that was all.

Val was a few steps ahead of me when the staircase collapsed and managed to escape past the first door before it fell out of its frame and tumbled past us with a sound like a thunder.

Trying to evade the falling door, I slammed into the wall, and knocked the wind out of myself. Still, I had very little time to wonder about the condition of my ribs or my still-bleeding, burned hands. With no stairs left in front of me, I stared in horror at the twenty foot gap between the spot where I stood and the remainder of the staircase, a pit black as pitch and similarly immeasurable. Val stared up at me.

He was shouting "No!" but I couldn't hear him, not over the roar of the collapsing ceiling.

I jumped without hesitation, leaping from one piece of stone to the next as they teetered and fell in front of me. Shogunate Era machines from the excavation to the east of us came crashing through the wall opposite of the entry to the temple. Piece of marble the size of rickshaws rained down from above and Val caught my eye just once before a massive boulder forced him out the temple doors and back in the direction of the Whispering Serpent. I was sure that he hadn't been crushed, but there was no way he could make it back to me, not once that exit was blocked. I dove for it myself, hoping to make it through before more falling rubble closed it off completely.

I'd never taken such a risky leap before, with more than forty feet between myself and the ground. I prayed that I'd land in a manner that didn't kill or cripple me. Not breaking any bones would be impossible. Of course, the moment I threw myself headlong into oblivion, the well exploded in a world-shattering burst of light.

I should have died then. Some people might say that I was lucky.

But it wasn't luck that saved me. One moment I was falling like a stone, pummeled by a shower of dirt and rubble too thick to see through, and the next I caught a faint glimpse of a glowing human figure, reaching out for me. I lunged for my rescuer with all of the strength that I possessed, not knowing if I was entrusting my life to Val or to the monstrous green-eyed woman who was trying to kill me. I gritted my teeth, closed my eyes and prayed to the Unconquered Sun.

A thrill raced through me as I caught hold of a warm metal surface, smooth to the touch but not slippery enough that I couldn't grasp it. I didn't know what I'd seized upon at first, but whatever it was, it was stable. I was still wincing from the impact of falling rubble and holding my breath so as not to swallow worlds worth of dirt, but I wasn't fast approaching the death anymore.

At first I didn't even consider what I'd caught hold of or why it was so warm and clean when everything else was as cold and foul as the muck of the Gray River. I was too glad not to be falling. The floor still rumbled somewhat, but everything that could collapse in on me had already done so. Against all odds, I was still alive.

Far above my head I could see the hole that had formed right through the Shogunate excavation site all the way up into the middle of the Big Market. If the accident had happened during the day, it might have been devastating, but the sun had set and the market mostly closed down. I could still hear voices and shouts up above. It should have been dark, with all of our lamps smoldering under tons of rubble... but a beautiful whitish gold light filled the temple.

The ancient inscriptions flickered with life, and the temple looked bigger and more spectacular than ever before. I took a deep breath and swung my legs up so that I could sit instead of dangling in midair. Then I saw what I had seized to save myself, the thing that had saved me from certain death, I stared in shock.

I was in the hands of the Unconquered Sun. The god was holding me up with that same smug little smile on his face and the light that I saw all around me was bleeding from my own skin. Even if I hadn't spent the last fifteen years of my life traipsing around First Age ruins, I would have known what had happened to me.

In the eyes of the Immaculates, I'd become Anathema, a baneful, child-eating, village-burning demon. But in the eyes of the gods... I'd been lifted up. Chosen. Exalted.

I'd never held any hope of Exaltation. Though many of my mother's clients were Dragonblooded, the man she'd claimed was my father was an insignificant mercenary from Chiarascuro, only notable in that my mother had loved him somewhat... and that I carried his surname, Indari. By graduating from the University I'd escaped the life of a whore, and in heading Team Firewander I'd found the opportunity to do all three of the things I loved best. I could learn secrets, hunt monsters, and actually help people. It was the most I'd ever wished for.

And suddenly... there was _more_. I was no longer surrounded by the bones of a nearly mythical lost civilization. I was standing in the heart of a place that I could remember from a lifetime that wasn't my own.

I started to cry like a child, and I stared up at the stars flickering in the night sky. If I'd still believed anything that my mother had painstakingly drilled into my head, I would have gone running for the nearest temple and begged for someone to swiftly execute me. Then again, Grandmother Burning Feather always said that my mother was completely mad. My grandmother was certifiably insane herself, but she did call things as she saw them.

Really, I'd spent too many hours buried in books and basking in the grandeur of First Age ruins to believe for more than a heartbeat that Solars were monsters. If anything, I'd begun to see them as precisely the opposite.

Terrified as I had been only moments before, I couldn't bring myself to yell for Val. If he was on the other side of the wall that had gone down, he wouldn't be able to hear me anyway... and standing in full view of the street glowing like I was would be something akin to signing my own death warrant. I eased myself down from the palm of the god's hand. The ground wasn't shaking as ferociously as it had been... or maybe it was, but my feet still found a safe path through all of the rubble.

The orchard and the garden was destroyed, but I saw the well still flickering faintly, and something in the back of my mind told me exactly what I had to do. I approached it slowly, put both of my hands on the searing hot stones, and told the device to _stop_.

The green-eyed Anathema did not appear, but in the well I saw my own reflection... an empty circle of glowing white light branded right between my eyes. According to the Immaculates, that meant I was one of the Wretched, the worst kind of rogue imaginable. I smiled slightly. Of course, I knew what the Wretched had been called in ancient times - names that were only marginally less damning.

 _Hidden_ _Suns._ _Iron_ _Wolves._ _Night_ _Caste._

"The Big Guy" knew me pretty well.

I focused again on the well, and I put something that came out of myself into the stone... Essence, I guessed it was, but it didn't make me tired like it usually did. I was surprised at how easy it was to control. With only my touch and my willpower, the well flared brightly again and then went dark.

For the first time since our excavations began, the ground beneath my feet felt solid and stable. No more tremors, never again!

If the power had departed me then, I think I would have been thankful... but if anything, the light around me had grown even brighter. Trying to smother it with my mind, I discovered I could mute the glow somewhat. It would have to be enough.

Without considering how impossible the feat I was about to attempt should have been, I leapt back into the hands of the Unconquered Sun. Val had often commented that I had been "starved for affection" as a child, caught between my demanding mother and my itinerant grandmother, who, like most gods, viewed the world with a degree of indifference, because nothing in it could really affect her. The only person who'd ever hugged me with any sort of regularity was Val's wife Lily, and that always made me uncomfortable considering the way I felt about her husband. In the presence of that great golden idol, I felt blessed. Loved.

All of Creation could call me a demon, but I would never believe that I was one. A handful of prayers and two peaches had somehow endeared me to the most powerful god in existence. With another tremendous leap, I landed effortlessly on my feet in the middle of Market Street. A few people saw me and immediately ran. I knew I had to loop back around and try to reach Val through the main excavation site, or, failing that... through the ventilation that we'd installed. No one could see me, especially none of the young Immaculates who were currently interrogating our assistants. When Dean Peleps had assigned the monks to us, Val had promised that they wouldn't find any real heretics on Team Firewander. He'd meant those words too, when he'd spoken them less than an hour ago.

But since then... everything had changed.


	17. Chapter 16 - Emerald Viper (Sapphire)

**Chapter** **16**

 **Emerald Viper**

Words really can't describe what that first Essence-fueled run felt like. I understood immediately how the Dragonbloods had developed their notions of Enlightened superiority. I was trying to stay focused as I fled down Market Street, dodging anyone who caught a glimpse of me and ignoring the exclamations of shock and awe that I heard. Some mercenaries stumbled after me waving swords and shouting, but they were too slow to stop me, possessed as I was with the thought of getting around to Val. I literally flew from rooftop to rooftop, flaring like a magnesium torch, and gathering a following of confused followers.

Most of them didn't seem to know what they were looking at.

I didn't care what Val would think when he saw me. I had to make sure that he wasn't bleeding out somewhere, or crushed under a ton of rubble. I'd never be able to forgive myself if I'd gotten him killed. He'd told me not to touch the well, and I hadn't listened to him!

Even as I clenched my teeth and fought back tears, I couldn't contain the feeling that was welling up inside of me, stronger and stronger as I leapt from rooftop to rooftop. Running like that was so wonderful, so utterly exhilarating! If I'd been a good acrobat before, I was brilliant one then! My instincts were sharper than they had ever been. Any fear I'd ever had of crashing to my death had dissipated like morning dew.

I _could_ _not_ _fall_.

With every step I took, I felt as I had in the presence of the God... as if I was being held up by something so much bigger than myself. Even flying didn't seem impossible. If I hadn't been on a mission to find Val, I knew that I would have kept running forever.

I landed effortlessly on my feet before the Tomb of Night. The guards didn't even notice as I landed behind them and slid down the first ladder into the Shogunate-Era excavation. There were no other archaeologists working... they'd either left for the night, or fled from the tremors.

While I'd never liked either of the crews who above us, seeing what had become of their equipment caused me to whisper a few choice words under my breath and double my speed back to the Whispering Serpent. I don't think I physically touched the rungs of the ladder which led down to our site, and I landed on the remains of one of our kerosene lanterns with a crunch.

It didn't surprise me to see that Fluffy had fallen from the ceiling and was almost completely buried in blocks of marble. The thought of having to dig the enormous construct free all over again was frustrating... but it wasn't until I looked in the direction of the Temple that my spirits really sank.

There was no way through! If Val hadn't made it all the way back to the ladder... and there was no way that he could have, he was trapped somewhere in between.

I slowly sank to the ground, evaluating my small supply of tools and explosives. Without more dynamite, it would take a miracle to get through. Considering what had just happened to me, I suspected that maybe a heartfelt prayer to my new patron would provide just that, but had nothing to make any kind of offering. I discovered one of Val's notebooks sitting near my foot, and I did have a flint always kept close at hand. Taking one of my chisels, I struck a spark and lit the paper on fire, reciting the prayer that was written on it in Val's beautiful calligraphy. He'd be furious with me for destroying his notes, but as I spoke those words, I knew I'd never forget them. I could copy them from memory back into his book in my chicken-scratch if need be... as soon as we were both safely away from the site.

"I don't know if you're still listening to me. And I don't have the right to ask you for anything. I don't deserve what you've already given me," I whispered to the Unconquered Sun. "But my best friend is in there somewhere, and he is going to die if I can't get through to him. Help me save Val. Please."

That was when I heard it... the faint sound of scratching nearby. I jumped up in shock, immediately drawing my firewands which were suddenly glowing with golden light. I'd always suspected that the weapons had some fine magic in them that I'd never been able to unlock and I knew it for certain then. Still fearing to be seen, I dodged behind Fluffy and hoped that I wasn't dealing with Immaculates or fae.

"Come out!" I ordered. "I am armed, and I will shoot you, but only if you try to hide from me!" Those words had a certain force behind them, and a familiarity that I had not expected. A strange thought occurred to me.

 _Righteous_ _Devil_ _Style._

I'd studied dance for years at my mother's insistence, and had learned to shoot in order to spite her, but martial arts were foreign to me... or at least they should have been. Yet somehow my body knew how to move. The positions weren't as comfortable as they would be with regular practice, but they were familiar, almost instinctual. I did not doubt that I was remembering something from very long ago, a different lifetime!

Everyone in the world has lived before, most people many times. The Immaculates claim that if we're good and complacent we'll be reborn into better circumstances and eventually as one of The Dragonblooded. Of course, since virtually no one remembers their past lives, one can never really tell if one is moving towards Enlightenment or not.

As the daughter of a prostitute, I never figured I had any way to go but up... at least not until I stood there on the tracks of the Whispering Serpent and started remembering that I had been Exalted before. I knew with certainty that in my past life I'd been what I was now – a Solar! Was that why I'd always been so drawn to archaeology?

"...Sapphire?" It was Val's voice I heard, though I didn't see him. He sounded shaky, but he was alive!

"Val!" I exclaimed.

"No, don't come any closer!" He ordered. I turned to see him anyway, but he hid from me behind a boulder.

"Listen, Val... I know what this must look like but it's me, Sapphire!" I pleaded.

I could see his foot sticking out a bit, so I knew where he was hiding. I came out from behind Fluffy, holstered my firewands and slowly climbed over the rubble towards him.

"I said stay back!" Val snapped, a strain in his voice I had never heard before. I froze.

"I'm your friend, Val. Your best friend!" I protested.

"That's why you need to get out of here. I don't want to hurt you!" He whispered feebily.

"Hurt me?" I blinked in surprise. "Val, you've never been able to land a punch on anyone! Not once in your life! And I ought to know, because I've dragged you home from every fight you've ever been in!"

Val hesitated. "Do you promise not to panic?" He whispered.

"I won't panic, Val. C'mon out!" I sighed heavily.

"I can't!" Val protested.

"Then I'm coming in there after you!" I replied without hesitation. Val covered his face as I landed on my feet directly behind him. "Don't look!" He cried.

"Are you _glowing_?" I blinked in surprise.

Sure enough, there was a nebulous aura of silver flickering around him and the dark circles that usually surrounded his eyes were more obvious than ever before, almost giving him the look of a black mask, like a ferret.

"I told you!" He snapped, his voice breaking into a sound that was definitely not a human one, almost a snarl. "Stay away from me!"

Of course, the moment he actually saw me, his jaw dropped and he leapt to his feet, wrapping me in a bone-crushing hug and sniffling as I'd never known him to do. Val was always a lot more emotional than I was, but I couldn't remember him ever crying on my shoulder before, not even when we were children.

"Um, Val? I sill have a neck you know, and you're breaking it," I laughed slightly, mostly to conceal my own apprehension.

We sat for a moment in silence and stared at one another.

"So what do we do now that we are... A... Anathema?" Val stuttered.

I laughed slightly. "Honestly, Val… you really don't believe we've been possessed by demons, do you? How do you feel? Because I feel pretty damn awesome right now."

He smiled slightly. "Surprisingly good, considering that I've just had a building fall on me. Really good, actually… better than I've felt in years." He admitted.

"That's because it's not a curse. It's a _gift,_ " I informed him.

"Are you preaching at me?" Val wondered.

"Take it however you want!" I replied. "When the sun comes up, I am going to buy a whole bushel of peaches!"

"Oh! Our research!" Val grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me furiously. "Gods, do you have any idea what this means? We'll be able to do ten times, a hundred times more than we've ever dreamt of!"

"Yeah, uh... Val? Even if our crew didn't confess about the statue, someone's going to see him in the morning. The quake was so bad that the street collapsed. There's a ten foot hole in it right above the Big Guy's head... that's how I got out," I informed him. "And if we're not immediately executed for being demons or fired outright for hiding our find, we're still going to have to cut the number of papers we publish in half."

Val's face fell. "But..."

I sighed. "Need I remind you that you and I are both _glowing_?"

"Oh," he observed. "Oh dear. You're right, of course. How silly of me. I simply thought that it would be so wonderful if we could actually fix the Whispering Serpent. Could you imagine what it would be like to have it running again, to repair those ancient dams in the Docks District and have this whole city all lit up at night?" He put his hand on the cold stone and stared at the tracks under our feet. I put my arm over his shoulder and he sighed in defeat.

"I can't help it!" He admitted. "I've always had big ideas, you know that! And... and they're bigger now! They're so much _bigger_! I simply can't explain!"

"And I'm not saying that I don't understand you _completely_." I replied, smiling slightly as the spark returned to his eyes. "I'm just saying that we need to be careful, and before we do anything else, we need to go see Emerald Viper."

"Emerald Viper?" Val stared at me with his jaw dropped as if I'd just suggested he jump into the Gray River. He never left the University, except to go home or to our dig site. But he knew about Emerald Viper. Everyone in Nexus did. Aside from my mother, she was the most dangerous whore in Harlotry. "Didn't she try to poison your mother? And didn't your mother set her wardrobe on fire?" Val demanded.

"No, mother poisoned Viper. Unsuccessfully. And it was Viper who set mother's kimonos on fire. But that wasn't where it began. The two of them have been feuding longer than I've been alive. Now it's not easy to get Viper alone, but I can do it," I admitted. Though I was ashamed to admit it, even after becoming employed full-time by the University, I hadn't cut ties with the whores and drug peddlers I'd been raised around. "I am Three Pearl's daughter. That gets you places in Harlotry."

"So why don't we go to see your mother instead?" Val wondered.

"Because I like her marginally less than Viper, and because if she wasn't a whore she'd be an Immaculate nun. Also, there's also a certain rumor about Viper which I happen to know to be true." I admitted.

Val raised an eyebrow in my direction. "You don't mean that she's…"

"Oh yes," I smirked. "She's a Lunar, my friend."

"I suppose I should have guessed," Val laughed slightly. "You know, Rose calls her "the scary snake lady"?"

Rose was the younger of Val's two daughters, just eight years old.

"Smart girl," I smiled slightly.

Val's face fell. "Oh, the girls! Lily." He sat down on the railing of the whisper bridge and stared at the street. "I can't... I can't go home like this!" He whispered helplessly. "Can it be reversed, do you think?"

"No. No, that's not even a question! Val, don't you understand?" I demanded. "This was always meant to happen!"

"Sapphire. I... I can't handle this right now. To be honest, I'm not sure why you can... and it is scaring me somewhat. I agree that we need to get out of here before someone comes looking for us. But we can't be seen or we'll have Immaculates on our heads in a heartbeat. If Viper can help us, that's where we need to go." He glanced towards the ladder.

We waited until neither of us were glowing. In silence we made our way up a few ladders and through a section of the Whispering Serpent that had not been buried by the quake. A staircase halfway consumed by boulders let us out just under a famous First Age bridge that stretched across the Grand Canal from the Theatre District into the north end of Harlotry. Val glanced in the direction of the Yellow River, and then north to the section of town where he lived. He paused for a moment and examined the architecture where we stood.

Of course, very few people understood why the structure was called "The Bridge of Whispers"... because very few people knew about the Whispering Serpent that had once run everywhere under Nexus and perhaps as far away as Great Forks or Lookshy. Val touched the remnants of glyphs carved into the stone, the personal marks of Nexus's five founding Solars. It was difficult to tell what he was thinking. He seemed torn between wanting to run home, and wanting to test the power he'd been given.

I felt terrible. I'd never wished anything bad on Val's wife, but I'd often been jealous of her. Val could never dream of doing anything that might hurt Lily, and because I knew that, I avoided admitting how much I cared for him. I'd never understood his temperance. I'd always gone after whatever, or whoever I wanted. Naturally, the one thing I could never have was what I'd always wanted. I wanted Val to look at me the way he looked at Lily, and that was never going to happen.

Now the two of us were united in something new and spectacular. We had the opportunity to do more than we had ever done, and yet I wished I could give Val his life back. I'd always secretly suspected such a thing, but I could see it in his face then, ugly and true as it was. I would never be good enough for both of us.

"What about Lily and your girls?" I wondered uneasily. Val turned slowly to face me, his face cold and emotionless. Even when I thought he'd been crushed to death in the quake, I had not been as afraid for him as I was at that moment. Though I often teased Val for being too intellectual and physically frail, it was his soft heart that had always seemed most fragile to me. But as our eyes met, I could see it hardening like a piece of flint. "We could get them a message from you? Tell them that you're alive? Maybe arrange for them to move to... wherever we find ourselves?" I suggested.

"No," Val took a deep breath. "They'll be safer if they think I'm dead. Let's just go."

Val followed me through the streets of Harlotry like a little lost sheep expecting a wolf around every corner. He wasn't wrong to be paranoid. When I caught sight of some of Chao Gongfang's boys watching him with interest, I made sure to give them a warning glare, my fingertips brushing my firewands to remind the thieves that I was armed, and that the "easy mark" passing through their territory was under the protection of a local. They quickly disappeared.

Granted, if anyone did happen to tangle with Val, they'd probably be getting a lot more than they bargained for, especially considering how jumpy he was... but my friend was clearly out of his element.

So were Gongfang's lackeys, technically speaking. They weren't supposed to be operating south of the Bridge of Whispers, but since the reigning slumlord of Tellnaught was murdered a few months back, it'd become obvious that old boundaries were being re-negotiated. In any case, I really preferred to avoid any potential fights. I needed to save the little energy that I still had for dealing with Viper.

"C'mon, Val!" I chided him, elbowing him in the ribs. "You're acting like you've never been down in Harlotry before!"

"I don't remember this neighborhood being so bad when we were children," he admitted.

"Oh, believe me... it was _worse_ back then!" I rolled my eyes and sighed heavily, pausing for a moment in the middle of the street with my hands on my hips. "You just never saw it after dark. When the sun goes down, that's when the day begins for us creatures of the night! You want the grand tour? I know all the sordid stories!"

Val didn't respond. He squinted through a cloud of rising sewer-smoke at the chains of red paper lanterns that criss-crossed the narrow cobbled streets just over our heads. They illuminated the signs of the better brothels, but they didn't make too much light. Marks being able to see more than three feet ahead would have annoyed the whores and the muggers equally.

As fate would have it, Val's moment of hesitation placed him directly in the path of the door to The Drunk Duck Inn, quite possibly the worst establishment in the whole of Nexus. The building itself smelled like a pigsty baked in the sun and its regulars were noticeably more pungent... but even Bloody Bill, the one-eyed proprietor, had certain standards.

"Get out of here, you mad cow!" He bellowed, throwing an old woman out the doors. It would have seemed like cruelty to anyone who didn't know better, and likely, that's what Val probably thought it was until the victim of the bartender's assault rose to her feet, cussing and spitting through what little remained of her blackened teeth.

"Are you all right?" Val gasped, running to help the old woman.

"Nice man!" The old woman beamed. Val grimaced, smelling her breath. "Help poor Old Bagsy, yes?" She offered him her wrinkled hand and he helped her to her feet. "Good man! Bagsy very grateful. Very, very!" She babbled, quickly making a move away from him... before he could notice what I'd already seen. For sure, my senses were a lot sharper than ever before, but at the same time, it didn't take a genius to figure out that anyone playing helpless in Harlotry was a con artist, a thief... or both.

As it was, I even recognized the old bitch.

"Not so fast, Coinbags!" I warned. The old woman's victorious grin soured as she turned and caught sight of me. "Give him back his money."

"What money? Poor Bagsy have no money! Husband die! Old Bagsy work hard, work hands to bone!" She protested.

"Oh, I've seen you work those hands!" I reached for my firewand and she gave an exasperated sigh. Spitting on the ground again, something too foul and black to recognize, Coinbags turned back to Val and reluctantly returned his pilfered purse.

"Now scram, Bagsy! Get!" I ordered.

The old bitch hissed at me like a feral fae thing and then loped off with an agility that made her apparent advanced age look suspicious. While I didn't doubt that she _was_ old... I'd never been convinced that she was actually human.

"She robbed me!" Val gasped.

"Yeah, that's Bagsy for you." I snorted. "Just be glad she wasn't propositioning you at the same time."

"Sapphire!" Val protested, raising his voice loud enough that everyone within two blocks must have heard him, even inside of the Drunk Duck.

"Sapphire? Sapphire Indari! As live and breathe!" A familiar voice exclaimed. I looked up just in time to witness Honeysuckle throwing open the shutters of his room on the second floor of The An-Tang Princess, which was across the street. Honey was well-named. His skin was the color of cinnamon and his long hair carried a luxurious golden sheen that perfectly complemented his amber eyes, flawless complexion, and aquiline features. In short, he was one of those beautiful boys who made every woman jealous... especially since he openly preferred men.

I was generally not in the market for company of Honeysuckle's quality myself, but like I've said before... being born and raised in Harlotry does come with certain "advantages". Of course, to make his sudden appearance all the more memorable and shocking for Val, Honey was dressed in nothing save for a pale lavender scarf... tied around his neck.

Honey's client, an older Dragonblooded man blinked owlishly in the sudden light from the street, obviously surprised by the neglectful behavior of his very highly paid whore.

"Aww, sweet Honey!" I laughed, reaching out as if to hug him from where I stood on the street. "I haven't seen you in forever and a day!"

"Oh, I know!" He gasped melodramatically. "I am feeling so neglected I may swoon! I miss my wild woman! Why don't you come up for a romp, eh?"

He leaned over his windowsill and made an asinine kissing face.

"You've got a client, Honey," I reminded him. "And I am a poor academic. You know I can't afford you, sweet-cheeks!"

"Bagsy discount? For nice lady?" He suggested with a feigned southern accent, notably meant to imitate one of Harlotry's most infamous streetwalkers, Empty Coinbags... the same ancient prostitute that had just tried to pickpocket Val.

"Oh no, We've already had one run-in with ol' Bagsy tonight!" I laughed.

"Ick, ick ick!" Honey grimaced, hopping in little circles and flapping his hands furiously as if he would shake off the invisible traces of filth that simply hearing the name "Bagsy" conjured for him. After a moment's prancing, he turned back to me – cured, it seemed.

"Are you sure you don't want to come up and play, dearheart? I promise I won't bite. Unless you want me to," he grinned mischievously.

Though he'd been nearly silent for most of our walk from the dig site, I saw the faintest smile on Val's lips. In light of everything that had happened to us, I suppose it was nice for him to see that my reputation in Harlotry hadn't changed.

That was when Honey's client decided that he'd had enough. "He left!" Honey gasped in mock horror. "That little pencil-dick! He didn't even pay me!"

"How unthinkably cruel!" I laughed.

Honey pouted for a dramatic moment and then slipped on the white kimono that hung on his bedpost. "Well, I suppose I must get back to work then! But if you're not available sweet, however shall I keep myself busy?"

"As if anyone could resist you! Goodnight, my love!" I bowed dramatically and Honeysuckle returned the favor, giggling like a hyena.

"I suppose his bark is worse than his bite?" Val remarked dryly as we crossed a small pedestrian bridge over the canal.

"Oh no. Honeysuckle can get a good scream out of an Immaculate monk," I replied.

That was when we finally reached our destination, Emerald Viper's house of ill repute. Aside from my mother's teahouse, it was the largest building in Harlotry, three stories tall with two dozen rooms, a parlor for games and even a little stage adjacent to the bar where dancers and itinerant bards would sometimes perform... on the nights when Viper wasn't shocking the pants off her regulars herself with her fire-eating and other exotic talents.

Strictly speaking, there were three kinds of brothels in Harlotry, the cheap and nasty ones like The Drunk Duck, the expensive and classy ones like my mother's Three Pearls Teahouse... and the ones which simply defied all imagination. Viper's establishment was that third kind.

In addition to being huge, the building was also ostentatious in every possible way, with red and gold columns and lacquered shutters that only drew a little attention away from the black tiled roof that was done up in the style of an Imperial palace. A magnificently offensive sign illuminated with brilliant green gaslights hung over the double doors which were always thrown open, allowing patrons to stagger in or out at will.

A half dozen Realm soldiers were hanging around in the middle of the street, apparently placing bets on whether or not one a certain prostitute could take the pants off of one of their prudish friends with only her teeth. Watching the calm, confidant expression on the girl's face as the soldiers argued all around her, I suspected she was about to make a lot of money.

Val stared at the sign over our heads in absolute horror. "Does that sign say what I think it says?" He whispered.

"Yup," I laughed. "Welcome to _Anathema's_."

"Does this go on every night? How does she stay in business?" Val whispered, pointing at another girl nearby who was covered in silver body paint. A little pair of false wings were fastened to her back, and she was sitting on the lap of a huge Earth Aspect Dragonblood who had a very silly-looking yellow paper crown on his head.

"A very particular clientèle. Rich, perverse jerks with exotic fetishes, mostly. About half the regulars are Dragonbloods," I explained. "This place is blacklisted, and it has been forever. Every novice Immaculate and Realm soldier is warned _never_ to come here. There's no better advertising."

"But..." Val began.

I could guess what he was about to say.

"It's the theatrics. All young Dynasts want to kill themselves some demons. They want to be big damn heroes," I informed him as a gold painted whore with rabbit ears danced past us, leading another very drunk soldier up the stairs. "And here, for the right amount of coin, they can get themselves a princess to save from some horrible fiend... or a little trussed up "Anathema" who'll beg and plead for mercy. You know, if they're into that kind of thing," I sighed. "There aren't any real monsters here."

"Except for Viper?" Val supplied, very quietly. "You say she's... how do you know that anyway?"

I noticed that he avoided saying the word "Lunar", but I suspected that even his little evasion was somewhat better than saying "Anathema". Not for the first time, I bit down on my lip in frustration. How was it that Val... of all people, did not seem to understand that what had happened to us was a good thing?

"Well, that's easy," I replied, a little more sharply than I'd intended to. "I slept with her."

Val blanched and tripped his way up the steps. He would have fallen flat on his nose in the doorway if I hadn't caught him by the back of his shirt and helped him to his feet.

The two of us were filthy, but that wasn't unusual for Anathema's clientèle. As I'd explained to Val, most of the regulars were soldiers looking for a wild night at one of the most notorious blacklisted establishments in Nexus. The rest were mercenaries or river pirates, about two steps up in social standing from the usual crowd at the Drunk Duck. Two Dragonbloods, obviously the officers of the men we'd seen carousing outside turned to stare at us where we stood darkening the doorway. I pointed at Val and pantomimed "drinking too much" and the Dragonbloods both laughed, returning to their mahjong game.

I noticed with amusement that the man who appeared to be losing had acquired a dozen silver and gold circles painted on his face, presumably "targets" to punish him for betting beyond his means. Beyond that, I really didn't have an opportunity to take in the scene, at least not before a particularly well-endowed girl dressed in flimsy white silk came skipping in our direction.

Like Honeysuckle, Kitten was a whore I knew well. She stopped before Val with a little dancer-pounce, jiggled her assets, and adjusted the furry black cat ears that were attached to her headband. "Oh, meeeeeoooow!" Kitten gushed, draping herself all over him. "Hello, scrumptious! Have you come to play with me? I'll give you a discount if I can wear your glasses."

Val turned absolutely as red as a beet, and I swore I could see smoke pouring out of his ears. Though he took my usual teasing in stride, Kitten was going to break him. Granted, he was under and awful lot of pressure to begin with.

An uncomfortable thought occurred to me. Shouldn't I have felt the same? Why was I so comfortable with the idea of being Anathema? If anyone apart from Val discovered what had happened to me... there would be no place in Creation I could hide.

That thought was a little sobering.

"Leave him alone, Kitten," I sighed. "We need to see Viper."

"Well, the Mistress is busy," Kitten lied. I didn't begrudge her that. It was her job to dissuade anyone who asked to see her boss. Part of the reason that Anathema's was still in business was because no one could ever deliver court orders to its proprietress.

"We'll wait," I replied, guiding Val to a table near the back. He sat down and sighed in relief, blushing slightly as Sei Shonagon brought us some warm sake. Sei was one of Viper's more sophisticated ladies, and while Kitten had nearly sent Val running for the river, I suspected Sei might convince him to lie down for a good massage.

Val's twitchiness was making me nervous. A little alcohol would be a good start to calming him down. All things considered, I could definitely use a drink myself. The sake was cheap, but it didn't make me feel like I was inhaling paint fumes – and we hadn't paid for it, so I said nothing about our hostess's hospitality... or lack thereof. Before I realized what I was doing, I had finished off most of a bottle. Val toyed with his first cup which had long since gone cold.

"So, what are you thinking?" I asked him.

"I don't know," Val admitted. "This place, everything about it..."

"Harlotry is a sewer, Val. What you see here is all the life these people have. They don't think further ahead than the end of the night. Most of them can't read, and they can't do any figuring unless it's the price of a new kimono or a keg of ale. If I need to play "one of the girls", I can do it. It would be stupid to pretend that I don't know this place like I do," I paused. "But I'd rather be out digging with you."

"Digging is what got us into this mess." Val remarked.

" _Thinking_ is what got us into this mess, Val! Imagining how things _could be_ , how they _should be_! Plenty of people _dig_ and never find anything! I mean, look at Kasashi! He's a sweet kid, but the only thing he's good at is copying your notes," I laughed, and then realized belatedly that I had no idea where our Team Firewander actually was. If everything had gone impossibly well, they were probably back at the barracks laughing off the whole interrogation, but somehow I doubted that was the case. Especially in light of what had happened with the exploding well.

"I hope the team's all right," Val paused.

"They're tough!" I punched him in the shoulder. "C'mon, Val... you know that no man – not even a great Enlightened Dragonblood can withstand the power of Fox's belching! Bruja will kill em' all while they're gagging on the fumes, Mehmed will part out their bodies for jade, and then you can have Kasashi write a song about it. He needs a good end-of-year assignment, right?"

Val smiled. "A song?"

"What's wrong with that?" I demanded.

"Well, Kasashi has never struck me as the musical type. Perhaps an epic poem instead?"He suggested with a smirk. " _Nay,_ _even_ _the_ _might_ _of_ _the_ _Elemental_ _Dragons_ _cannot_ _withstand_ _this_ _noxious_ _fury!_ _We_ _had_ _better_ _leave_ _now..._ _in_ _a_ _hurry!"_

"Val, you can write better poetry than that!" I groaned.

"Of course I can! I was trying to sound like Kasashi! Say, do you remember those papers we graded for Professor Grace?" Val asked. "I think we decided on an award for the most innovative spelling of "traditional"? T-e-r-d-i-s-h-i-n-a-l?"

"Bleh! Don't remind me!" I laughed despite myself.

Val was tentatively peeking out of his shell, and I was all too glad for that. In the dim light of the bar, the black shadow around his eyes drew my attention just as it had when I first saw it. It was proof that I hadn't imagined everything the two of us had just gone through.

We _had_ changed... but were we different?

After a few minutes of joking and reminiscing, Val waved for Sei who brought us more sake. He'd finally finished his first cup and poured himself a second when another warm bottle arrived. I was about to have another myself, probably my fifth, when Kitten came scurrying up to our table.

"Okay, so the Mistress wants to know why you're here," Kitten whispered. "Don't start staring over my shoulder, but she's in the pantry right now. And she might meet with you, if she thinks you're not wasting her time."

"Good. Nice to see that we're finally getting somewhere," I replied, ignoring Kitten's warning not to look behind her. As I saw it, anyone who didn't already know that Viper took special visitors in her pantry wouldn't figure that out from one patron briefly glancing in the direction of the kitchen.

"Tell Viper that my friend here is thinking about getting a tattoo," I paused, waiting for Kitten to absorb the message as I'd intended it. Viper's true nature was no secret to her employees. Kitten stared at Val who sighed heavily, burying his face in his hands. Kitten's mouth widened into an "o" and she quickly raced into the kitchen without another word.

About five minutes later, Kitten returned, looking more than a little frazzled. "The Mistress will see you now," she said to Val.

Val stood slowly and glanced briefly in my direction before following Kitten into the kitchen. I went after the two of them myself and found myself staring at the half-open pantry door as if it were a gateway into another world. In a sense, it was.

I hadn't been lying to Val about my relationship with Viper, I'd just neglected to mention how one-sided it had really been. Though Viper treated her people well enough, she did have a sort of patronizing attitude towards all of them, an attitude which I'd noticed also carried over to me.

Then again, according to Viper's own reckoning she was more than three hundred years old... which I supposed gave her the right to act superior to the rest of us "little mortals" who lived out our whole lives in what was nothing more than a lazy weekend from her perspective.

Really, I had no idea how long Lunars could live, although I knew that it was even longer than Dragonblooded, and Dragonblooded lived six or seven times longer than ordinary people did. And as for Solars...

I instinctively touched my own forehead at the thought. I loved the thought of being a hero. Having the power to strike back against the Realm's toadies like Summer Storm who intentionally made life difficult for ordinary folks was very appealing. But living forever? Was I immortal now? Or if not... so close to it that one day counting years would just seem silly? If I didn't do anything fatally stupid, would I be just like Viper in the future, surrounded by throngs of ignorant, adoring fans and a small contingent of loyal servants who knew just enough to be terribly afraid of me?

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach.

"Come in, Valen," Viper said, her voice soft like velvet, just as I remembered it. Usually she was brash and nasty, but when she had the proper motivation, she could be very seductive.

Val didn't even glance in my direction for approval. He slipped into the pantry.

"The Mistress said she'd see your friend. She didn't say she'd see you," Kitten stopped me just inside of the kitchen.

I ignored her and started to follow Val.

"Stay out of this, Sapphire!" Viper's voice warned from just beyond the doorway. I couldn't see her where she sat. "I know you think you know what's going on, but you have no idea!"

"No idea?" I snapped. "I brought him here!"

"Damnit, I will throw your skinny ass out of here!" Viper warned. "You know I will!"

Still grumbling to myself, I went back into the bar and say down at the same table Val and I had been sitting at before. Sei brought me a bottle of sake, and I didn't bother to pour it into my glass. I already knew I'd have to kill off the whole thing if I wanted even the slightest buzz. I took one long drink directly from the bottle, and then another.

Val was my best friend! He wouldn't even have known to look for Viper if I hadn't brought him through her front door. I didn't see how there was anything that she could have to tell him that I couldn't know!

About twenty minutes passed.

A sweet, rank smell that I recognized immediately stung my nostrils. There was someone standing across from me, but I couldn't see them. A tendril of opium smoke rolling out from a cracked green glass pipe, clenched in purposefully blackened teeth, like those of an old Realm prostitute. That is to say... nothing else of the person was actually visible, save for her cherry red lips and that wicked smile.

See, that's the thing about gods. You never know when they're around because you can't see them until they want you to.

Very slowly, languorously, the goddess phased into visibility. First came her hands. Gold and silver rings adorned every one of her fingers and her long nails curled almost twice over themselves. Then came her many kimonos... red, green and gold, each layer as garish as the exterior of Viper's brothel and embroidered with inhuman precision. An elaborate antiquated hairstyle formed itself before my eyes, feathers of chartreuse, cinnamon, and cornflower blue growing out of nothingness along with locks of silver-frosted black hair. Little flames danced at the tips of each feather and loose tendril of hair, creating an elegant if somewhat bizarre picture.

Last but not least, a neck and a head, both heavily powdered and reeking of opium layered with perfume filled out the ostentatious costume sitting across from me. The goddess's face would have looked younger than my own, except for the fact that her eyes were ancient and mismatched, one the color of the last embers of a dying fire and the other as green as absinthe and twice as hypnotic.

Burning Feather, the Goddess of Intoxicants.

My grandmother, smirked at me.

"No more for you, poppet!" She scolded, slapping my hand away from my sake and finishing the bottle.

"I'm not drunk!" I protested.

"Nor should you be! No descendant of mine loses her wits drinking two bottles of watered-down sake!" She retorted. "Though I suppose you've a right to mourn your impending dismissal from the University?"

I snorted but didn't dignify that barbed comment with a response.

"Or is it... something else that weighs so heavily on your pretty little head?" She taunted, drawing a very distinct circle in the sake that Val had spilled on the table earlier with one of her claws.

I felt the blood freeze in my veins. She knew? Did that mean that... all gods would know? If that was the case, I'd never succeed in hiding from my mother's thamaturgy! Maybe I had a lot more to learn about being Exalted than I'd previously thought.

"I would have told you," I finished lamely. "But you already know."

"Of course I already know, poppet! But tell me all the same!"

And so I told her everything that had happened all day from when the Immaculates had come onto our dig site up in the late afternoon until Kitten had thrown me out of Viper's kitchen only moments before she appeared. I tried not to sound too starry-eyed as I described my run across the rooftops, but found that I could conceal nothing when my grandmother asked me if the Unconquered Sun had spoken to me. He hadn't... not with words anyway. But at the same time, _he_ _had._

I cried as I hadn't cried in years, rubbing my nose raw and red on the dirty sleeve of my shirt.

"I'm starting to think that maybe I don't know _anything_. I definitely don't know what he wants me to do!" I admitted finally. "But I'm going to do it! Whatever it is, I have to! I don't just owe him my life, I owe him Val's life!"

For a long while we sat in silence, facing one another.

"I would keep this a secret from your mother, were I you," My grandmother remarked. That bit of advice didn't surprise me. The relationship that my grandmother had with my mother made my relationship with her seem friendly by comparison. As far back as I could remember, their fights had always revolved around one of two things... either my mother avoiding something my grandmother wanted her to do, or my grandmother purposefully withholding something that my mother wanted in order to goad her into doing that something she'd been avoiding.

Still, I was a little surprised that she'd taken the news so well.

"You're not upset?" I wondered uneasily.

"Upset? Why in all Creation should I be upset with you, poppet? Upset is what I was when your mother developed a taste for Immaculate philosophy and encouraged her patrons to stop sending me offerings!" My grandmother laughed. She took both of my hands in her own and smiled slightly. " _Honored_ is what I am today. Finally, one of my descendants has made good!"

Even though I knew very well that she didn't like to be touched, I literally leapt up from my seat and hugged my grandmother in the most awkward way possible. She was much taller than me, so my face was pressed up to her obi. To my absolute shock, she actually hugged me back... if only for a moment. Careful not to scratch me with her long nails, she patted me on the head.

"All right, that's enough hugging!" My grandmother brushed me away, not forcefully, but I still stumbled a bit. "Can't have you smelling like opium when your beau comes out!"

"Val is not my beau, grandmother," I sighed in defeat, knowing I'd never convince her otherwise.

"Just the same," She took my chin and kissed me on the top of the head as she hadn't done since I was a child.

" _What_?" Viper's voice roared from the adjoining room, loud enough that everyone in the bar stopped what they were doing and stared. There was a sound like a herd of elephants fast approaching and with a force that nearly tore her door from its hinges, Viper came barreling out of her "office".

To put it bluntly, Viper is no small woman. She isn't much taller than me, but she is ridiculously curvy and unbelievably strong. Originally from a small island in the far southwest, she has skin the color of dark chocolate and shoulder-length black hair that she regularly braids with twenty pounds of colorful glass beads. She wears her own weight in gold jewelry but her preference for clothing is usually none at all... or as little as she can get away with.

Viper appeared that evening in a very flattering, nearly translucent orange silk. Her snakelike eyes would have appeared to be a wild pox, or some sort of clever illusion to anyone who didn't know that they were as real as the intricate moonsilver tattoos that covered her body.

While I didn't care for Viper the way that I cared for Val, we did have some history and my earlier meeting with Honeysuckle had only served to remind me of how long it had been since I'd had a bed to share with anyone. If Viper decided to take advantage of me, I was just drunk enough that she'd probably get whatever she wanted, and I'd get nothing out of the equation. I cursed my own stupidity and hoped that I could still make the best of things for Val's sake. Viper stood with her hands on her hips and gave me her look-of-death, which caused Sei to dunk behind the bar and Kitten to run into the broom closet. I had a pretty good guess as to what Val had told her, and was suddenly glad that my grandmother had finished drinking my sake for me, before I could have used it to further impair my negotiating skills.

"Sapphire! In my office! _Now_!" Viper ordered.

"I'll have my eye on you, poppet," my grandmother whispered in my ear. With a wink, she vanished. Wiping my tear-streaked face with a bar towel, I composed myself and followed Viper into the back.


	18. Chapter 17 - Headaches (Sapphire)

**Chapter** **17**

 **Headaches Every** **Day**

I tried not to react badly to Viper's sudden demand, but a good number of people stared at me anyway. Very slowly I followed Kitten into the kitchen. I hesitated a moment in front of the open doors to Viper's pantry. With two dozen rooms in her business, she could have used any one that she liked as an office, but she seemed to prefer being somewhere without windows where prying eyes wouldn't be able to catch sight of something that they shouldn't. I suspected Viper also liked being within spitting distance of her winecellar.

It was Viper's habit to work even later than most of her girls, and if she was upstairs she probably had to request someone to bring her another bottle or two on most nights just before dawn. As it was, I didn't get more than two steps into the dark pantry before Kitten closed the door behind me.

Viper seized me by the neck. I only recognized her from her perfume, and for a heartbeat I thought that she was about to kill me – not that I could guess the reason why. But then she whirled me around and our lips met in a kiss that would have shucked the pants right off an Immaculate monk. Like most everyone raised in Harlotry, I'd fooled around with both girls and boys since puberty, but my preference was definitely for men. That didn't make Viper any easier to resist. As damned good as she was, anyone would have kissed her back.

Even if they hadn't been drinking.

When she released me from her ferocious embrace, I staggered into the wall.

I took a deep breath. "Not what I was expecting, but..."

"Sit down, fool!" Viper ordered, plopping herself on top of her overcrowded desk and shoving a chair in my direction with her foot. The bells on her wrists and ankles jingled. I did as she ordered and she leaned forward to stare at me with a smug smile on her face. With her chin in her hands and her elbows on her knees, her perfect breasts were very difficult to ignore.

"Ahem?" Val cleared his throat. I hadn't even noticed that he was still in the room.

I composed myself as much as I could which was not very easy considering that Viper looked hotter than the green flames of Malfeas in the candlelight. More to the point, she'd already managed to completely unlace my shirt.

She dangled the lace under my nose with a mischievous smirk. "Couldn't help myself, darling." She admitted. I tried to take the lace back from her but she quickly pulled it away from me. "Oh no-no-no! _Show_ _me_!" She taunted.

I didn't have to ask what she wanted to see. With a heavy sigh, I called up the mark on my brow.

A whitish light tinged with gold filled the little room and Viper inched towards me with a childish expression on her face, reaching out in my direction as if she had to touch me to be sure that what she was seeing was real.

She jumped back like she'd been bitten when her nimble fingers brushed my Caste Mark.

"Luna's great big tits!" She exclaimed. "You _are_ a Solar!"

"I'm guessing that Val told you?" I hazarded a guess.

"Yes, and I didn't believe him." Viper replied. "I've only known you since you were born, dear! I can't tell you how shocked I am that I never guessed!"

"Viper, this all happened only a few hours ago." I admitted, "You were the only person I could think to come to."

"Oh no. Exaltation isn't like that! It's your Fate. You're only a Solar now because you were _always_ one!" She informed me. "To be honest, Sapphire... this mess you're in is _way_ beyond me! I don't remember the world as it used to be. I've been with the Seneshals for about a hundred years and in all that time, I've only met _five_ Solars," She sighed heavily.

"So few? In a _century_?" I blinked in disbelief.

Viper sighed heavily. "There were never very many in Creation, dear. Which is probably why it surprises me that _you_ were right under my nose all this time! You know... I was beginning to wonder if I really believed all that Sun-King dogma that Silvermane is always spewing. "W _hen_ _the_ _Lawgivers_ _come_ _back_ _and_ _Creation_ _is_ _ours_ _again_!" Viper snorted, doing a very good impression of the old mercenary who often stopped by Anathema's to press her for information.

I'd suspected that Silvermane and his usual companion, Heartsblood, were both Lunars but Viper had never before confirmed that fact.

"But _you_! All that attitude you're so full of? _You_ are going to be spectacular!" She brushed my hair out of my face and kissed me again. " _I_ _have_ _so_ _many_ _things_ _I_ _want_ _to_ _do_ _to_ _you_ _right_ _now_." She whispered in my ear.

Val blushed absolutely scarlet. I doubted I looked better myself.

I sighed heavily. "Viper, look... I'm actually okay with this. Can we help Val first?"

She nodded, seeming a little disappointed that I wasn't melting like wax in her presence. I did recognized the spark of defiance in her eyes, however. Viper did not take "no" for an answer, and if she got the impression that her basic seduction techniques were not working, she'd only improve her game. I didn't fool myself into thinking I'd actually resist her if I was her prey, but I could try to keep things businesslike as long as possible and hopefully get a promise or two out of her. Manipulative as she often was, Viper _always_ kept her promises.

"We need to get your friend to Grandmother Spider. You can find her outside of Chiarascuro in a little town called Al-Hazin," Viper explained. "I'll arrange for the two of you to head south with my buddy Gray Whiskers. He sails as far as Lookshy and then he'll set you up with a caravan. Someone you can trust. We've got people all over Creation. You just need to know where to look for them."

"Chiarascuro?" Val echoed. "Why so far away?"

"Well, Spider's a crazy old bat, and Luna knows that she hates me. She's Silver Pact through and through, and she thinks us Seneshals are nonsense... but she's your best bet for tattoos. Your Caste will be fixed with no strings attached, which is more than I can say for most of the other No Moons I know. There's a fair chance these days that ol' Laughing Mask will just kill you for the fun of it."

Viper sighed. "And no one _sane_ is liable to be any closer than Spider is. Most Lunars don't like cities, and not too many of them are willing to give something as important as tattoos away for free. But Spider's last protégé turned Chimera, and now she treats her work like a community service – which it bloody well ought to be."

"A Chimera?" I wondered uneasily.

"Yes, that's why we Lunars have tattoos." Viper explained. The moonsilver tattoos she wore were usually almost invisible and covered her whole body... but when she chose to, she could fill them with Essence just as I illuminated my own Caste Mark.

With her Caste Mark burning brightly on her brow and so many hundreds of silver spirals racing across her dark skin, Viper appeared even more beautiful than she usually did. Her tattoos were applied with a precision that certainly looked like a goddess's handiwork. "The Wyld is inside of us – and it'll change us or kill us if it's not properly contained. Shapeshifting is great for the body." She pulled aside her skirt to show off her very toned legs. "But it can wreck havoc on your mind." She added, making the universal symbol for crazy and poking herself several times in the head.

Viper took Val by the chin and examined him. He didn't pull away from her but he was obviously extremely uncomfortable. "Helluva Tell you've got there. It's going to be hard to hide," she remarked, licking one of her fingers and trying to wipe away the dark ferret mask that surrounded his eyes. Her attempt at cleaning his face didn't work. The shadow around his eyes was obviously there to stay.

"What's a Tell?" Val wondered, though he asked that question almost as if he thought that it was a rhetorical one.

"This," Viper replied, flicking her forked snake tongue in his face. It wasn't readily apparent when she spoke, but I'd learned years ago that was only because Viper had gotten very good at concealing her true nature with a plethora of Charms that made her appear normal in polite company. "An aspect of your spirit form is always with you. You can learn to hide your Tell just as you can learn to hide your tattoos, but both are sure fire ways of being recognized as a Lunar. Solars are lucky bastards. So long as they don't burn Essence, they look just like everyone else."

"And if "they" do burn Essence?" I suggested.

"Oh, you'll find that out soon enough!" Viper teased. "Anyway, it's definitely best if the both of you get out of this city as soon as possible. If you ever want to come back, you're going to need to be spending your formative years elsewhere."

"We're not children!" I glared at her, not liking her tone at all.

Viper put her hands on her hips. "You are now, and you've got a rough road ahead of you. You don't even realize what you don't know yet. I'll contact Gray Whiskers and you'll meet him over by the Nighthammer docks first thing tomorrow. He's a good man. And wherever you end up... if you're ever in really deep trouble, look for a symbol like this."

She took a piece of charcoal and drew a butterfly on it. I knew I'd seen the design she drew before. It was etched in the glass of the second floor windows of Anathema's.

"There are shelters for Exalts like us in almost every city in Creation and this place is one of them. The organization that finances them all is called Chrysalis. Go in where you see the sign of the butterfly and order _"Some good sake"_ with one more cup than you need for however many people you're traveling with. Someone will eventually come and that will be your contact," Viper explained. "You already know one of the passwords. Lunars are always " _thinking_ _about_ _getting_ _a_ _tattoo_." And if you're a Solar, you tell whoever brings your sake that you have a " _terrible headache_."

"What?" I eyed her suspiciously. "How does that make sense?"

"You'll understand eventually. Also, listen very closely for anyone playing the Ballad of Windswept Rhapsody," Viper advised.

"Every bard in Creation plays that stupid song!" I groaned.

"And they don't all play it the same!" Viper informed me. "It's a _code_ , Sapphire! It contains messages – and warnings for Exalts. You'll learn what they all are soon enough. Rhapsody works like no woman in Creation. Never ceases to amaze me," Viper replied with a smile.

"Wait, Windswept Rhapsody is _real?_ " I blinked in disbelief. Like most everyone, I'd always considered the legendary bard to be... well, _legendary_!

"Yes. You'll probably get to meet her one of these days – she usually comes to Nexus around Calibration time. Likes to get roaring drunk with all the sailors down in Fishmarket," Viper explained. "Rhapsody has been around for a long while. Some folks say that she was the first Solar to return. At very least, she's the oldest one I've ever met. Ask Whiskers about her when you meet him. He's got some stories about Rhapsody that you won't believe!" She advised.

"How long will it take us to get to Chiarascuro and back?" I wondered.

"Probably eight months," Viper admitted. "I wouldn't come back to Nexus any sooner than that."

Val looked ready to say something. The expression on his face made it very obvious that he was worried about Lily and his daughters.

"Stay here for the night," Viper volunteered. "No charge."

"I am very tired," Val admitted.

"I bet you are," Viper nodded, helping him to his feet. "It gets easier." She reassured him.

Kitten took hold of Val's hand, rubbed his back for a moment, and he disappeared out the door.

I watched Viper for a moment. The expression on her face was very troubling, and I knew what she was thinking.

"It doesn't get easier, does it?" I whispered.

"Val has a rough road ahead of him. I know he's a good man. I really hope he can make it," she admitted.

"I'll take care of him," I reassured her.

"I believe you'll _try_ , but there is _nothing_ you can do. You need to understand that he might be better off on his own. The battle he's got to win is inside himself," Viper sighed.

I didn't like her advice, but I wasn't going to argue with it. Viper was the only Lunar I knew. There was nowhere else I could take Val. I had to trust her.

The following morning, Val and I went to meet Gray Whiskers. The streets of Nighthammer were even more crowded than usual, thanks to some sort of accident at The Foundry where almost all of the District's residents worked. Rumors had it that fae were involved. It was furthest outside of Firewander that their activities had ever been reported, but I didn't doubt that they were to blame - particularly since the roof of the building had been blown completely off but somehow the windows were undamaged.

Also, the smoke that was pouring from the wreckage was not black or white or any conventional color... but a bizarre, faintly luminescent pink.

Though I was curious as to what had really happened and knew more than a few locals that I could probably milk for information, I did see how pale and nervous Val looked. According to Viper, the fact that Val had exalted under Firewander in such close proximity to enormous amounts of Wyld energy was something to be concerned about. He needed to be kept away from any kind of fae activity until he was tattooed if he didn't want to risk contracting some awful pox. To that end, Whiskers was our man.

I'd never actually met Gray Whiskers before, though I'd heard about him in passing. He was a ship captain from Great Forks, known to be an excellent fiddle player. Viper liked him, but she didn't sleep with him... and that was all that I knew. In the perilously short time that I'd been Exalted myself, I'd discovered that the majority of the people Viper liked were actually Lunars. I wondered a bit what that meant for our relationship and decided not to press the issue.

When Val and I did finally find Gray Whiskers – I had to admit that he was impossible not to recognize by his physical description alone. Whiskers was a tiny old man scarcely bigger than the average Djala, and almost doll-like in his proportions. He had an awful lot of white hair on his head that stuck out in all directions. He very strongly resembled an Air-Aspect Dragonblood of good breeding... but his red eyes and very pointed nose made him look like a mouse.

Whiskers made up for what he lacked in physical presence by dressing ostentatiously in very fine clothing, mostly silver and blue. When Val and I found him he was sitting on top of a stack of shipping crates swinging his legs like a child while his crew loaded his ship behind him and whistling a popular Eastern folk tune called "The Goblin's Ball".

The name of Whisker's ship was "Bright Future". It was small and very colorful just like its captain. I smiled slightly. Viper had promised that I would like Whiskers and I already did. He looked like a figure from a children's story and I was very eager to ask him more about Chrysalis.

According to Viper, Whiskers was what longtime members of Chrysalis generally referred to as a "worm herder". Basically, his job was to help ferry young and confused Exalts like Val and myself into the hands of more experienced Solars and Lunars who would train them to become full-fledged members of Chrysalis. Theoretically, when the day came that enough "worms" were ready and waiting throughout Creation... we'd all "come out of our cocoons" and change the world.

It sounded like an awful lot of garbage to me, but I knew that I wasn't in a position to complain. When you're a hunted fugitive, you don't turn down honest help.

Val stared at Gray Whiskers for a solid five minutes, obviously ruminating over our predicament. Since dawn he'd been glancing over his shoulder as if he was considering running away but couldn't decide where to go.

"Hang on, Val," I nudged him, tucked in his shirt and made sure his satchel was tied closed. "There ya go!"

He gave me a very strange look, as if he couldn't fathom why I'd decided to put him back together and make him look a little bit respectable when we were approaching someone who could have easily passed for a river pirate.

That was when Whiskers noticed us. He hopped down from his perch. "Can I help you?" He asked innocuously – as if he suspected that we were the passengers he was waiting for. "You look lost."

"Actually, we are trying to find a ship," Val reached into his pocket and produced a piece of folded paper that Viper had written out for the two of us, a short letter of introduction.

Whiskers perused the letter momentarily and grinned. "Heh. Well, you've found it! Right this way!" He bowed dramatically. "I'm the captain, so it please you. The name's Whiskers - no calling me "sir" or any other such nonsense... and this beauty is the Bright Future." He gestured to his ship. "You have very good timing. We were just about to depart."

Val hesitated, staring at the gangplank.

"Come aboard!" Whiskers offered cordially.

Val did not move.

"Damnit, Val! The University is throwing us out and there Immaculates everywhere waiting to arrest us! You've got to get out of here!" I hissed. "What is it now?"

He sighed heavily. "Lily," he finished. "I can see what kind of mess we're in and I know the girls would be safer if I just disappeared but... I can't! I can't leave them like this!"

"Then tell them you'll be back!" I seized the note Viper had written for Whiskers, and turned over the paper so that Val could use the back to write on. "You know I can take a note to your house without being seen," I paused. "And I'm fast enough now to catch up with your ship."

Val eyed me suspiciously, but Whiskers nodded in agreement.

"If you're going to send a message, best be quick about it. We can't wait too long," he said. Without turning his head at all, he motioned in the direction of the Foundry. A gaggle of Immaculate monks had just arrived. They stared at the pink smoke in disbelief.

"No, I can't write! Not a time like this! It would come out sounding like an obituary!" Val protested, clearly not seeing what Whiskers and I had both noticed.

"Fine, so write it later!" I stuffed the piece of paper in his pocket. "Whiskers can bring it on his way back from Chiarascuro. Chrysalis can get secret messages around, right?" I asked Whiskers.

"Absolutely," he nodded. "In fact, it's one of the things we're best at."

"Sapphire, I..." Val began.

He didn't get to finish.

A handful of monks skirted very close to us. I dunked my head and Whiskers suddenly hugged Val. I thought at first that it was just to shut him up, but then I saw the genuine concern etched on his face. Val blinked in surprise.

"Luna as my witness, I know _exactly_ what you're going through," Whiskers whispered. "I'd love to tell you what happened to me once upon a time... but we have to go. If you end up on trial, you'll be outed, you'll be executed and your family will be punished for hiding you. You're one of us now. We'll look out for you. And your family too."

Val nodded slowly. I made a mental note to thank Viper for choosing someone who obviously understood Val's difficult situation. We were in good hands. That was when I saw the same Immaculates that had interrupted our dig approaching. In the lead was Summer Storm.

"Damnit!" I swore. "Get out of here now!" I ordered Val, and before he could protest, Gray Whiskers grabbed his arm. They ran up the gangplank onto his ship and dove behind a pair of crates on deck. Really, it was Whiskers who dove and Val only fell, but the result was basically the same... they were both hidden before anyone got close enough to see them. Gray Whiskers motioned for his crew to begin preparations to set sail and they did as he ordered without behaving as though something had gone wrong. The ship began to pull away, despite the fact that I was still on the dock.

Val strained in Whisker's grasp and tried to wave for me but at least he had the good sense not to yell my name. I was certain that Viper had warned Whiskers that if he had to choose between the two of us, he was supposed to protect Val and not me. Before I'd entered the University and become an archaeologist, I'd made my living for years as a circus performer, a smuggler, and a gun-for-hire. As I'd reminded Viper, I could take care of myself.

I shuddered at the thought of being in the position Val was in. I wasn't sure that I would feel so blessed myself if I'd been 'gifted' with a power that threatened to eat me from the inside out. It was horrible to imagine.

I took cover myself as Summer Storm came charging in my direction, drew my firewands and checked my ammunition. The pouch that I usually stored a good supply of alchemical shells in was completely empty! Usually I was too sharp to wind up getting pickpocketed... but I'd been so worried about Val that I'd let my own guard down!

I cursed under my breath. I knew that I wasn't really without ammunition, but the same part of my brain that had given me the words "Righteous Devil Style" had also warned me that jumping into a gunfight only armed with Essence would be a pretty quick route to discovering what Viper had meant when she'd promised I would "find out" what happened to Solars who used too much of their power.

Noticing a faint flicker of white gold beginning around my hands as I focused on what I was about to do next, I expected it would be kind of like throwing a lit match into a bucket of kerosene.

Following Summer Storm were his two young subordinates and a much older monk who looked somewhat annoyed at having to be out walking the streets. The elder monk looked like he might be a Earth-Aspect Dragonblood. That would be trouble. Fortunately, he seemed more annoyed with Summer Storm than anything else. The fact that he was distracted already made him an easy mark.

"They were just here!" Summer Storm snarled. "I swear to you, I just saw them both!"

"Control yourself, Storm... they're obviously not here now!" The elder monk snorted, not seeming convinced by Summer Storm's declaration. "You there! We're looking for a pair of heretics from the University. They caused that earthquake yesterday in Firewander."

"I haven't seen any professors around here, milord," The man they'd seized for questioning looked like a typical ironworker and was obviously a little nervous being stuck between two Immaculates.

"They don't look like respectable professors! That's what I've been trying to tell you, master! They look like a pair of unwashed vagrants covered in ink and lamp oil!" Summer Storm interrupted his companion. He unrolled a piece of paper with a pair of crude drawings on it that bore a rather unfortunate likeness to Val and myself. "Here!"

The ironworker studied the paper.

"The first is a man, forty years old, with silver hair and thick glasses. He's probably still wearing the robes of a University Fellow. The second is a woman, probably thirty-five. Long black hair, blue eyes, and a large mole right here. She'll be dressed like a harlot," Summer Storm explained. "Stinks of sake, and laughs like a hyena. She is _so abrasive_ it's like a _caricature._ If you saw her, believe me, you would know!"

"Aw, gee Summer, I love you too," I rolled my eyes. I knew he couldn't hear me, but I almost wished he could.

"Oh. Milord, I think the man you're describing just got on a ship," the ironworker replied.

"North or Southbound?" Summer Storm demanded.

"I... how should I know?" The ironworker stammered. "Milord, I don't even know which ship it was!"

"Go at once to the port authority! Tell them to stop every ship leaving the Nighthammer Pool!" The elder Immaculate ordered. One of the younger monks bowed to him and took off running. Before he could get far enough to relay his master's orders, I decided that a distraction was in order. I didn't want to shoot anyone if I could avoid it, but I couldn't let the monks find Val either.

Gritting my teeth, I fired two shots of Essence into the stack of crates right in front of the running monk. The crates exploded with a force that would have made ordinary shells look like the smoke bombs I'd played with as a child, and the older monk was blown right off of his feet. He didn't move, but he didn't look dead either.

"Hey Summer!" I shouted at Summer Storm. "You want me? Come and get me!" I fired another shot, taking his straw hat right off of his head. That was when panic set in.

Using the frantic crowd to my advantage, I ran like my life depended on it in the direction of the Foundry. I had one plan for losing the monks pursuing me and it involved taking my chances with the fae that were everywhere under the city. Like most of the oldest buildings in Nexus, the foundation of Nighthammer's chief ironworks was built atop First Age ruins, specifically an ancient tomb that radiated enormous amounts of heat even after being buried for more than 1,500 years.

I knew enough about Nexus's underbelly to lose anyone who followed me below the streets and if my experience with the exploding well in the Unconquered Sun's temple had taught me anything, it was that First Age ruins were notably more friendly to Solars than mere mortals – or Dragonbloods for that matter.

The monks charged after me... all of them, including the one that had been ordered to relay the message to the port authorities. I ignored the barricade around the Foundry, and dodged several sword blows from the mercenaries guarding the building's entrance as I dove through the first window I saw on the ground floor. The mercenaries did succeeded in stopping the monks who pursued me, if only until the two Dragonblooded ordered them to stand down.

Summer Storm kicked open the Foundry's main doors, and his underlings coughed as the four of them entered into the still-smoky interior, the elder monk in the lead.

I watched them search for me from a perch in the ceiling just above their heads. I wasn't sure which of the dozen doors in the burning Foundry actually lead down to the First Age ruins below. Fortunately, while I decided on my next move I was close enough to an open window that I could discreetly poke my nose out and take a few breaths of fresh air. The two mortal monks couldn't press forward very far beyond the Foundry's entrance and even the Dragonbloods looked ill from the noxious pink smoke. With my cloak covering my nose and mouth, I felt reasonably well myself. I waited.

When I was fairly confident that I wasn't being watched, I made a beeline a door in the far corner of the Foundry underneath the main staircase. I wasn't sure if it was a broom closet or a basement entrance but the flames were rising higher and I couldn't keep hiding where I was.

I landed effortlessly on my feet, wrapped my right hand in my cloak to open the door and covered my face, just in case more fire was waiting for me down below. A burst of cool air that smelled like the filth of the Gray River assaulted my senses and confirmed my suspicions. I'd found the way down.

I slipped into the darkness and then stopped and listened for anyone who might have followed me. I couldn't hear a heartbeat. When I was sure that I was alone, I sighed in relief and called up my Caste Mark, surveying my surroundings. There was a pool of greenish water that might or might not lead out into the river, some kind of ancient corroded siphon pump, a small bridge made from a single slab of cement and two doors, one to the east and one to the west.

I picked the first. Truthfully, I was more than a little nervous about going into a ruin I'd never seen before without Val and Team Firewander backing me up... but I didn't have a whole lot of other options.

The door I'd chosen led me down a long, narrow staircase of a distinctly familiar design. As I descended I ran my hands along the walls, almost hearing voices behind me.

 _My_ _friends_ _and_ _I_ _were_ _arguing_ _about_ _something – about_ _the_ _stairs_ _being_ _"broken"_ _which_ _made_ _very_ _little_ _sense_ _from_ _my_ _perspective_ _because_ _they_ _seemed_ _stable_ _enough. I_ _glanced_ _over_ _my_ _shoulder_ _to_ _see_ _the_ _two_ _that_ _I_ _was_ _talking_ _with,_ _a_ _small_ _woman_ _with_ _red_ _hair_ _and_ _a_ _very_ _pointed_ _nose – and_ _a_ _tall, very attractive older_ _man_ _with_ _the_ _most_ _striking_ _blue_ _eyes_ _I'd_ _ever_ _seen._ _Both_ _were_ _marked_ _as_ _I_ _was_ _with_ _a_ _brand_ _of_ _light_ _on_ _their_ _brows._ _The_ _woman's_ _was_ _in_ _the_ _shape_ _of_ _a_ _setting_ _sun,_ _and_ _the_ _man's_ _was_ _the_ _opposite,_ _a_ _rising_ _sun._

 _Twilight_ _and_ _Dawn_ _Caste._

 _But_ _what_ _was_ _more_ _shocking_ _than_ _seeing_ _those_ _two_ _briefly_ _standing_ _on_ _the_ _stairs_ _behind_ _me_ _was_ _the_ _fact_ _that_ _I_ _recognized_ _them both. I'd seen the woman inside of the well. Her name was Perfect_ _Mechanical_ _Soul, and she was a sorceress and artificer of unparalleled skill. Perfect was famous for her engineering marvels, especially her bridges and waterworks. The Well was both... water, and a bridge between two places. I was sure that it was her design._

 _But she hadn't built it alone._

 _I'd helped her, and so had the man standing behind me._

 _He was Alexander_ _Faeslayer, the hero of the Primordial War. There was no warrior in Creation more feared than the great Sword of the Deliberative._

 _I often wondered why he was content to be king of city as insignificant as Nexus._

I shuddered as the vision departed. I'd never consciously considered what Nexus's ancient rulers had actually looked like. I'd always envisioned them as giant marble or orichalcum statues, never as human beings.

Were Solars human at all?

It was a troubling thought to consider. Only one thing was certain. The place I was descending into was somewhere I'd been before, in a past life that I was starting to remember.

At the end of the staircase there was a large round room of classic First Age design, a stunning space that I knew Val would spend many long hours describing with glowing praise. Such precise geometrical symmetry, such perfect masonry... for an aficionado of architecture it was impossible not to love.

Celestial designs in orichalcum covered the black marble walls, and in the center of the room there was a massive marble table surrounded by five stone chairs, each one marked with the symbol of one of the five Solar castes.

It had to be a secret meeting space. Anything for official business would have surely had windows to let in the light of the sun. But in way, the darkness of that important room seemed very appropriate. Something told me that it was meant to reflect the mantra of the Night Caste... that the Unconquered Sun was still at work, even when he could not be seen.

That was when it came to me.

 _The_ _Three_ _Circles_ _Society._

Whatever it was, it was damned important... and it had something to do with the well.

Without consciously deciding to do so, I discovered that I'd sat down in a chair.

 _My_ _chair._

 _I_ _could_ _envision_ _Perfect_ _and_ _Alexander_ _sitting_ _across_ _from_ _me,_ _and_ _I_ _sensed_ _that_ _the_ _other_ _two_ _chairs_ _at_ _the_ _round_ _table_ _were_ _occupied_ _as_ _well,_ _although_ _for_ _some_ _reason_ _I_ _couldn't_ _see_ _the_ _faces_ _of_ _the_ _man_ _and_ _the_ _woman_ _who_ _sat_ _in_ _them._ _We_ _all_ _put_ _our_ _hands_ _into_ _the_ _center_ _of_ _the_ _table_ _and_ _poured_ _our_ _Essence_ _into_ _it,_ _causing_ _the_ _patterns_ _on_ _the_ _walls_ _around_ _us_ _to_ _change_ _and_ _shift..._ _unlocking_ _something – I_ _didn't_ _know_ _what. Light filled the room, but it wasn't coming from any of us._

 _It was the Well! The well was hidden inside of the table!_

Returning to the present was like getting struck in the face with a brick. My hands burned and I pulled them away from the well. I gasped for breath and fell to the ground, suddenly flaring Essence like a torch and in more pain than I could comprehend. If I hadn't fallen from my seat, I got the distinct impression that the well would have killed me outright.

The light emanating from the water faded. I didn't see Perfect either, so that was a relief... but I was still troubled. I knew the garden had been buried in rubble!

Someone had _moved_ the well before the University could find its remains. They'd moved it back to the place where it had originally sat, before it had been taken to the Temple for safekeeping.

But how? And why?

Whatever the Well was – it was bad. It was horrifically dangerous, even by Solar standards.

One word pounded like thunder in my mind.

 _Circle_. I needed my Circle for this!

Staggering to my feet, I searched the round room for another exit, and realized that there wasn't one. I had no choice but to head back up the stairs and try the other door in the Foundry's basement. I could only hope that the fire was still burning like mad upstairs and keeping people out of the building. I felt like I'd been fumbling in the dark for hours and I hadn't gotten nearly as far away as I'd hoped to.

I staggered halfway back up the steps and leaned against the wall for a moment, catching my breath. When I felt well enough to continue I discovered that something held my hand to the wall. I gritted my teeth and pulled away. Something else caught hold of my hair, and gave my braid a sharp tug. I felt like there were snakes wrapping around my ankles and almost lost my balance, very nearly tumbling headfirst back down the stairs.

I heard a faint tittering sound and I felt my heart skip a beat.

 _Fae._

There were more than a dozen of them surrounding me, and I hadn't even noticed! They were like shadows on the walls, invisible until they chose to show off their impressive teeth and glowing yellow eyes. Malicious little claws poked and prodded me, leaving sharp red burns wherever they caught my skin. Clearly, the beasts were coming in for the kill.

I shot at the first of them and then remembered that I was expending Essence every time I used my firewands. The blaze already burning around me literally doubled in size. If I hadn't been four stories underground, I didn't doubt that I would have been highly visible to someone on the east bank of the Gray River even if I were standing on the west bank myself.

Pulling up my hood and closing my cloak tight around me, I raced up the rest of the stairs with my head tucked down and hordes of those little monsters flying after me. There were a lot more than a dozen at any rate.

When I burst through the door and entered back into the basement of the Foundry, I nearly ran headlong into Summer Storm who was engulfed in a swarm of fae creatures himself. With black fae crawling all over me and my anima blazing like a torch... I had a pretty good idea of what I probably looked like.

"Anathema!" Summer Storm gasped in horror. Despite his tough facade, he was piss-scared then. Which was fine, because with all those evil little fae trying to eat my skin off... I was pretty damn terrified myself.

I didn't wait for Summer Storm to recognize me or the fae that were attacking us both to decide that they were tired of playing with their intended meals. I fired a hail of Essence at the fae that were swarming Storm. A couple of my shots came in so close to his head that he was forced to duck for cover and avert his eyes – but I was aiming at the monsters, not the monk.

I jumped clear over Summer Storm and landed on my feet behind him, just a few inches away from the door on the west wall. I tried to open it but it refused to budge. I realized belatedly that it was no ordinary door but one of the First Age kind that Val and I usually opened with dynamite.

A faint memory sparked in the back of my mind, and I instinctively laid my hands on the door as I'd laid my hands on the well. The door opened as I gave it Essence, but it refused to close as easily. With Summer Storm still screaming and a dozen fae still ripping my cloak to shreds, I ran and jumped as far as I could, landing on something that immediately collapsed under my weight, the arm of some sort of enormous machine. I fell for an impossibly long time surrounded by manic laughter, crashed into water, and then hit something hard. I would have thought that I was about to die, except that I could hear a familiar voice singing a tune that I hadn't heard in a long time, a lullaby that I remembered only vaguely from my childhood. Cold, impossibly skillful hands were making short work of my various wounds. I couldn't see who it was that had decided to save my life, but I was certain that we were connected somehow.

" _Nighttime_ _has_ _come,_

 _Gone_ _is_ _the_ _sun,_

 _Dreams_ _are_ _spun,_

 _Stars_ _come_ _out,_ _one_ _by_ _one._

 _Oyasumi,_ _hush_ _my_ _love,_

 _Oyasumi,_ _hush_ _my_ _love,_

 _Oyasumi,_ _hush_ _my_ _love,_

 _Hush,_ _hush,_ _hush._

 _Oyasumi,_ _close_ _your_ _eyes,_

 _Oyasumi,_ _close_ _your_ _eyes,_

 _Oyasumi,_ _close_ _your_ _eyes,_

 _Sleep,_ _sleep,_ _sleep._

 _Oyasumi,_ _dream_ _of_ _me,_

 _Oyasumi,_ _dream_ _of_ _me,_

 _Oyasumi,_ _dream_ _of_ _me,_

 _Dream,_ _dream,_ _dream..."_


	19. Chapter 18 - A Thief (Sapphire)

**Chapter** **18**

 **A** **Thief** **in** **the** **Night**

" _Oyasumi,_ _dream_ _of_ _me,_

 _Oyasumi,_ _dream_ _of_ _me,_

 _Oyasumi,_ _dream_ _of_ _me,_

 _Dream,_ _dream,_ _dream..."_

"Wake up!" Another familiar voice ordered. This one belonging to a man.

I sat up immediately, and hit my head very hard on a metal bar that I realized was the bottom rung of a ladder. When my vision cleared I couldn't see who'd woken me, but there were still fae all around. I guessed they'd been quibbling over which one of them got to eat me and I was only too glad that someone had woke me up before I became lunch. The fae hissed and scattered as I drew my firewands.

"Get back!" I ordered, firing a warning shot.

I wasn't glowing any more, which left me wondering how long I'd been unconscious. I was standing on some kind of drifting metal barge and the ladder I'd hit my head on was illuminated by a few rays of sunlight, probably coming from the surface.

I didn't know who'd spoken to me either. I seemed to be alone.

I climbed it and found another door that I could lay my hand on and open with the tiniest expenditure of Essence.

I blinked in surprise as I discovered that I'd come out of the base of a statue in Mercenary's Square, within spitting distance of the Divine Peach. The Peach was my favorite restaurant, a little dive that specialized in all kinds of decadent deserts. I'd been stopping by there at least once a month for most of my life and I'd never even guessed that there was anything more to the statue in the square than what met the eye. Clearly, I knew a lot less about Nexus than I thought I did.

But what _really_ surprised me was how _late_ it was. It had been mid-morning when Val and I had met with Gray Whiskers. I must have been unconscious for ten hours or more. The sun was already setting!

I thought about going back to Anathema's. Viper would not be very happy about what had happened at the docks, but I expected that she'd be glad to see me in one piece anyway. I was also still toying with the pros and cons of sharing her bed. I ordered a little cup of the Peach's signature flavored ice, poured a liberal amount of cream into it, and debated washing my dessert down with sake... but I didn't have the money for a decent bottle.

Like indulging in alcohol and sweets, thinking about sex was comforting to me. It allowed me to forget that I was in very real danger simply because I existed and because for some incomprehensible reason the Unconquered Sun had decided that he wanted me for one of his own. The idea of spending a few days lounging around Anathema's recuperating from whatever Viper planned to do to me was a sorely tempting.

I waited at the Divine Peach until after closing time and said a little prayer as I watched the sun go down. I'd spent most of the day running for my life but somehow I wasn't exhausted in the least. While I knew that it was idiotic to go back to the University with Immaculates still poking about everywhere... but I couldn't go home either.

I'd owned a reasonable house in Firewander until the Wyld had overrun the district four years ago, and since then I'd lived with my mother. I thought again about my grandmother's advice and decided not to go home. I'd be too easy to find there. Every whore in town knew me.

They also knew enough to _lie_ for me, especially where the authorities were concerned... but that didn't mean that they wouldn't accidentally disclose some information if they were being cornered by a Dragonblood who could use brute force or Charms to get what he wanted.

I was sure that word of what Val and I had uncovered had spread, but I still hadn't seen any of our team, despite the fact that I'd been lounging outside at my favorite restaurant for several hours. Since both Bruja and Mehmed were mercenaries before we'd hired them, I expected that if they weren't already in prison they would claiming immunity from the pending investigation at the Mercenary's Guild Office across the street from the Peach.

No such luck. I didn't catch a glimpse of either of them.

With Val gone and our crew in shambles, I suddenly felt very alone. Despite how stupid I knew I was being, I went to poke around the University very close to midnight. Surprisingly enough, no one was guarding the doors of the history building. As I slowly stepped out onto the third floor I could hear the sounds of snoring nearby. I'd expected a soldier or two or even a few Immaculates waiting for Val or myself, but what met my eyes as I turned the corner was the sight of Little Fox leaning against the wall with his head titled back and his mouth wide open, making enough noise for a sleeping dragon.

Or maybe a cow in season.

He didn't wake up as I approached him, even though I was wearing wooden heeled riding boots on a stone floor. I studied the Djala with a slight smile. He was maybe sixty pounds and not even four foot tall, but he had a lot of attitude crammed into his tiny frame. Val and I often joked that was the reason for his outrageous farts and belches... not to mention his absolutely horrific snoring. Still, I was very glad to see that at least one member of Team Firewander had escaped unscathed.

Not that I was surprised. Bruja and Mehmed may have been mercenaries and Kasashi a precocious University student... but Little Fox had grown up in Harlotry just as I had and his idea of "gainful employment" before becoming part of Team Firewander had been picking pockets.

"Hey, Little Fox! Close your mouth! The monks can hear you snoring, and your breath is killing flies!" I whispered in his ear.

He woke with a start and scrambled to his feet. "Sapphire! I thought you were dead!" He exclaimed, hugging me around the waist. It was as high as he could reach, and his enthusiasm almost knock me off my feet.

"I almost was," I admitted.

"Where's the Boss?" Fox demanded.

"I was hoping you knew," I lied.

Despite what Val had decided, I didn't have the heart to report him dead. I was prepared to take the responsibility for everything that had happened myself. The University would have to absolve Val from any wrongdoing, and simply berate him for being stupid enough to hire a career criminal daughter of a whore whose grandmother was directly responsible for every idiotic thing anyone had ever done while drunk.

I wanted Val's life to be waiting for him when he came back to Nexus. There was no sense in trying to preserve my own reputation. I'd never had one worth protecting anyway.

"Where's everyone else?" I asked.

"Bruja and Mehmed are fine. They're at home now. Kasashi's still being grilled by the Immaculates, and I'm here to find out how it goes. I think they want him expelled from the University. Apparently he's got some "unorthodox ideas"," Fox rolled his eyes.

"Have they talked to you yet?" I eyed him suspiciously. "You're more of a heretic than I am!"

I knew _that_ wasn't true... but I felt compelled to tease Fox anyway.

"The University doesn't pay me! Neither does the Boss. _You_ pay me," he reminded me. "And besides, Kasashi's mother is a Dragonblood! He's got a standard to uphold. I'm a Djala! It's kinda like being a cat. I can sit in plain sight and everyone talks like I'm not even in the room! You know what I heard one of those monks say? " _Don't_ _waste_ _your_ _time_ _interrogating_ _the_ _spottie!_ _They're_ _too_ _stupid_ _to_ _know_ _better!_ "

"That's a load of crap!" I rolled my eyes. "You're smarter than anyone I know! Well, maybe not Val."

"That's cause Val is smarter than all of us put together. He's probably already skipped town," Fox admitted. "Sapphire, the whole Department is being questioned and the main dig site is going to be completely bricked off. You and Val are out of a job. Probably _permanently._ "

"As much as I hate to admit it, I've got to agree with the University. Someone is liable to get hurt with the way things are right now. Did you see what happened to Market Street?" I pressed.

Fox nodded solemnly. "And it's already worse than that. Four archaeologists _were_ killed yesterday when fae swarmed into a Shogunate-Era site. No one we liked, but..."

"No one deserves to die like that," I finished. It was a sobering thought. "This is out of our hands now. We should probably take what we can and get out of here tonight."

I surveyed the room, and Fox followed my gaze with a supportive nod. Aside from the dig site, Val's office served as Team Firewander's base of operations. Though we usually preferred to sit and discuss business at the Divine Peach when necessary, we did need somewhere to store our gear... which mostly consisted of tools, ropes, explosives... and about two hundred of Val's precious notebooks.

"You're not going to wait for the Boss?" Fox wondered.

"He's not coming back here," I admitted.

"Do you know where he's going?" Fox pressed.

"Far away, probably," I replied.

Not at all satisfied with my answer, Fox turned to look out the window. "I'm going to go get Mehmed," he told me, making a few steps toward the door. "He's got a wagon we can load these books into."

I stopped him. "Before you go, I want the whole team to meet tomorrow. Kasashi too, if he's not in jail," I explained. "The usual time. At your least-favorite restaurant."

Fox nodded. The "usual time" was as late as I could still get breakfast, and by Fox's declaration "the worst restaurant in Nexus" was the Golden Doubloon, a seedy little hellhole across the river from the city jail. Fox claimed that he had eaten there only once, and the food had made him so sick that he'd spent the next three days hunched over a privy. Everyone on Team Firewander knew that story, but it wouldn't be common knowledge to anyone who might overhear us talking.

"You think someone is listening?" He hissed, glancing over his shoulder. Fox was sharp, and he realized right away why I hadn't verbally set a time or place.

"I think a lot of people are looking for us right now," I replied. "And yeah, they might be listening."

"Mehmed and I waited for you at the usual place today, but you never came," Fox paused.

"I know," I sighed in defeat. "I'm sorry."

"The usual place" was the Divine Peach.

"For what it's worth I still think we ought to find the Boss before we decide anything," Fox informed me. "But I'll give everyone your message."

I didn't respond, watching the door long after Fox had snorted at me in disapproval and vanished like a ghost. What could I have said?

Though it would have been smart to leave Val's office right away, I didn't know if I'd ever set foot on University grounds ever again... and it was a little unsettling thinking of how I was about to leave behind the place that had been so much a part of my life. I guessed in some small way I was finally feeling some tiny speck of the emotion that had torn Val apart so viciously earlier.

I opened the window and held out my hands in the rain, splashing some water that ran off the gutters on my face. It was cleaner than the drinking water in most of the city and it did help me wake up a little as I began involuntarily nodding off. I didn't want to pass out like I'd found Fox in case someone came looking for me. With a sigh, I closed the window and helped myself to the tea on Val's desk.

It was old tea, two days or more... but I'd drank worse. I picked up a dog-eared book entitled "Culture and Society in the High First Age". The huge volume was Val's permanently unfinished magnum opus, a work that he'd only managed to publish in its least scandalous form – which was why it had so many notes and revisions jammed into its pages.

I couldn't find a match to strike for a lamp, and so I sat with my back to the street. Even the light from the dormitories across the courtyard was not enough to read by.

Then I scoffed at myself. I had the only light I'd ever need again. I drew the curtains closed and willed up my Caste Mark. In its soft, faintly golden light, I lost myself in an essay Val had folded into his chapter on tombs and monuments, one that I had never read before. The essay was a gorgeous and scandalous piece about how so many monuments had been constructed to Solar heroes even after the Dragonblooded had lead their great revolt. Val actually suggested that it was as if the Dragonbloods knew they had done something horrible. He described as " _desecration,_ _like_ _painting_ _a_ _temple_ _with_ _blood."_

It was heretical as all hell. I absolutely loved it, and I hoped that I'd have the opportunity to tell Val how right he was about _everything_. If I'd learned anything at all in the perilously short time that I'd been Exalted... it was that Solars were _not_ inherently evil. I couldn't even begin to quell the tremendous sense of purpose I felt welling up inside of me. It was like nothing I'd ever known before. I wanted to do every kind of good that I possibly could.

When I remembered how I had felt in the hands of the Unconquered Sun, I was certain that was what he was asking for was nothing less than the transformation of the whole world... back to the way it had been so many centuries ago. But resurrecting the glory of the First Age wouldn't be as simple as rebuilding ruins and learning how to work ancient devices.

People had changed! They'd become cowardly and complacent. They did whatever they were told and were afraid to think for themselves or ask questions! That attitude had to be fixed too.

I put Val's book down not long after opening it, and guessed I'd probably never pick it up again. Maybe it was the knowledge that the descriptions were not all that they could be, and that so much of the information was blatantly incorrect, despite the fact that Val was the smartest person I'd ever known and definitely much brighter than me.

But then again, what did I really know about Solars anyway?

I studied my own reflection in the glass of the window and momentarily flared the mark on my brow.

 _Yup..._ _that_ _was_ _it._

Really, I didn't feel like a different person and I'd never been inclined to believe the Immaculate Order's propaganda. And yet at the same time... where had all the stories about super-beings and monsters come from? As I saw it, I was neither a hero or a villain. I remembered being a child and telling my mother for the first time that I didn't want to grow up to be a whore. She'd smacked me across the face and informed me that was good enough for everyone else in my family ought to be good enough for me too.

Before I'd ever known what archeology was, I'd had a very strong desire to learn how to shoot a firewand and become a mercenary, but my mother had always insisted that working as a sellsword was not a good profession for a woman. My next ambition had been to join the circus and that one I'd followed through on, making it as far as Great Forks and back again... not bad for being just fifteen years old. It had been a fantastic year, and a torturous experience for my mother, although my grandmother had always kept a close eye on me and reported on all of my little adventures.

As I reminisced of my old days walking the slack rope and performing trick shots with my first awkward pair of firewands, I could not resist the opportunity to balance on one of the benches that sat against the far wall of Val's office. I shoved the table out of the way and moved it to the center of the room, finding my balance easy and especially strong. I did a handstand and a walk-over with no pinch of protest from my muscles. It was obvious that I was healing impossibly quickly.

I considered leaving Nexus myself, imagining that some traveling performers would be only too glad to pick me up. I was a better acrobat and a better shot with a firewand than I had been when I'd gotten my first paying job, and I could double as a caravan guard if I needed to. Not that I really wanted to leave Nexus. Since I'd forced Val away against his will, I felt that the least I could do would be to stay behind until he made it back and look after Lily, his girls, and all of our friends.

I've no idea what time it actually was when Fox returned to the University with Mehmed and Bruja... but it must have been very nearly dawn. I heard Bruja very quietly knocking on the door that I'd locked and glanced out the window to see a wagon cleverly tucked in between two overgrown bushes in the courtyard below. I didn't doubt that the small cloaked figure that stood guard over it was Fox. With nothing more than a grunt to declare her intentions, Bruja threw a pack on the table before me. Mehmed surveyed Val's books and immediately began seizing the most controversial ones.

"What are you doing?" I hissed.

Bruja stuffed a brick of dynamite into her pack. "If it can sell, pack it!" She ordered Fox.

"We can sell _everything_ here! Take it to Bloody Bill at the Drunk Duck. He can fence anything, no matter how hot it is," I informed her. "But we won't get nearly what it's worth!"

"Something is better than nothing at all!" Mehmed sighed. "The Department of Archeology is no more. The Immaculate Order will be here in the morning to make a heresy case. They are rounding up everyone."

"Gods, this keeps getting worse and worse! Do they honestly think we _caused_ that earthquake? We've been complaining about the tremors forever!" I sighed in defeat.

"It is no longer simply about the earthquake," Mehmed shook his head heavily. "Someone saw an Anathema jump out of the hole on Market Street. And again today, a monk ran afoul of one in the Nighthammer District."

"Shit!" I cursed, jumping right out of my skin. I guessed that many people had seen me when I'd gone running to find Val, but I'd never imagined what might happen if they'd actually connected the Essence-bleeding apparition that had been leaping across rooftops with the wreck of our excavation site.

And the fact that Summer Storm had somehow escaped from the fae under the Foundry?

It almost made me wish that I'd killed him, even though the thought of actually taking a life did make my blood run cold. "That's bad news," I grimaced.

Apparently not one of Team Firewander seemed to think that "Anathema" meant me or Val.. and that was a good thing. Not that I didn't trust my friends – but "Anathema" was synonymous with "demon" and even if most all of our people were heretics of one stripe or another, I was pretty sure that Kasashi thought Solars were totally extinct while Mehmed considered them largely mythical and somewhat godlike.

"Less talk, more work!" Bruja grunted, elbowing Mehmed who bowed courteously to the gruff Icewalker.

I helped the two of them pack and load everything we could into a wagon Mehmed had found for us. I didn't know where he'd take all of Val's research, our most expensive tools and some of our more exciting finds – but if anyone could hide a six foot piece of orichalcum in a chicken shed... Mehmed could do it.

After wishing everyone luck and begging them to be careful, I went back to Val's office and made it look like we hadn't emptied it out. When I'd finished reshelving the books, I suddenly sensed a presence behind me. Immediately on my guard, I reached for my firewands... but I didn't actually draw them.

When I turned around to see who it was that had caught me, I found myself face to face with a tall figure in a pristine white cloak and ivory mask. Even if I hadn't lived in Nexus all my life, I would have known who he was from the stories alone.

It was the Emissary himself.

I stared. It was all I could do. I had never seen the Emissary before, except as a shadow standing on a rooftop. He was more feared than most of the local Gods, the mysterious and ever-vigilant watcher of the night.

"Sapphire?" He asked. His voice was not at all like I'd expected. He sounded very human, which was a shock considering his majestic appearance.

" _Emissary_?" I whispered incredulously.

He nodded. "Yes."

"Why are you here?" I wondered uneasily.

"I've come to tell you that you must get out of here. Someone saw your friends loading their wagon, and they've gone to fetch the authorities," he replied.

"Well that's no good. Though I'm not sure why you're helping me," I admitted.

"I want to help you," the Emissary replied. "Must there be a reason?"

"Are you kidding? You're the Emissary! You never speak to anyone! All you do is tie up criminals and nail proclamations to doors!" I protested.

"I suppose I haven't been working very hard lately," he replied. "But that's about to change."

"Why?" I pressed.

"Because of you," the Emissary sighed.

"I don't understand," I protested.

"Sapphire, I've been doing the job of five people. No, not five _people_! I've been doing the job of five _Solars!_ And let me tell you, _that_ is exhausting!"

"So you know?" I eyed him suspiciously.

"Of course I know! In fact, I know more about you than you probably know about yourself!

This is not the first time that you have lived. More than a thousand years ago, you were known as _Shadowsbane._ You were a great force for good, and Keeper of the Peace in this city. _"_

I took a deep breath and considered all that he had said. Of course, I knew the name Shadowsbane. It often appeared beside the names of "Perfect" and "Alexander". According to local legend, he was the Solar buried inside the infamous Tomb of Night. I had a lot to do, but I decided that I would pay the place a visit. The traps around the Tomb of Night were brutal, and they had killed dozens of monks and would-be archaeologists over the years. Of course, if it _was_ the final resting place of my previous self, I had to make it inside.

"Now it's time for you to go... those monks will be here any minute! Do your best to lie low... not that should I have to tell _you_ that!" The Emissary laughed and disappeared into the night.

I knew a warning when I heard one. I lost no time in getting the hell out of the University, and hid myself in the kitchen of the Drunk Duck until the sun came up. Then I went across the street to the An-Teng Princess, snuck upstairs, and slipped into Honeysuckle's bed. He was fast asleep and looked perfectly divine. I didn't want to wake him.

When I woke myself, Honey was gone. I discovered that he'd braided all of my hair while I was asleep, and put so much henna in it that I was sure it would stay auburn for weeks. There was no note or explanation for what he had done... but then again, I hadn't given him one either.

I stared at my reflection in Honeysuckle's mirror. I looked like a completely different person. I suspected that Honey had already heard what was happening to everyone affiliated with the University and though I knew I'd eventually have to spend hours combing the kinks out of my hair so that it would flatten out the way that I liked it... it was nice to know that the people I'd sworn off when I left Harlotry for the University were completely willing to take me back under their wing – just as if I'd never left home at all. A small glass of sake sitting untouched on Honeysuckle's windowsill caught my eye and I smiled despite myself.

No monks or soldiers would ever find me.

It wasn't just the Emissary that they'd have to contend with - if they dared.

I was _also_ under my grandmother's protection.

Two years passed relatively uneventfully. Truthfully, in comparison to the time I'd spent working for the University they were rather hectic, but I soon discovered that one of the benefits of being Exalted was that I could accomplish tasks that I normally would have divided up amongst five or six people all by myself with time to spare.

At first I didn't have enough money to keep paying Team Firewander full-time, but Mehmed, Bruja. Kasashi and Fox were good as gold anyway. They hired themselves out for other jobs locally and quickly came running whenever I found something interesting. After about a year of working as a city guard, Bruja took a position as a caravan guide and began the long trek north to her homeland. Similarly employed, Mehmed went south to visit his family.

Kasashi's mother cut him off financially after the University scandal exploded, and when he wasn't in my employ, he was reduced to working at a lousy little noodle shop near Mercenary Square.

Fox stayed with me constantly. I suspected that he didn't care if I paid him or not.

The mess at the University turned out to be quite extraordinary. Four "heretical" professors were sentenced to long prison terms, three were executed, and two others committed suicide before they could be brought to court. The Immaculate Order zealously prosecuted everyone they could, but they never laid their hands on me... mostly because the University wasn't sure if I was alive or dead.

Sapphire Indari had vanished. Everywhere in Nexus except on the streets of Harlotry, I became known as "Shadowsbane". I had adopted the name that the Emissary had called me by – it felt like my own, and it was better than constantly being referred to as "Sapphire the Heretic".

As I saw it, I was still nominally an archaeologist with an overblown sense of social responsibility, but from the perspective of most of Harlotry's denizens, my usual business made me look an awful lot like a diminutive version of the Emissary himself – a mysterious and terrifyingly powerful guardian of the night.

I eventually confessed to Lily and to Team Firewander that Val was in hiding somewhere down south, which didn't surprise any of them. Lily and I wrote hundreds of letters, to which Fox added jokes and tidbits of gossip. We passed the letters along to Viper, and sometimes directly to Gray Whiskers who made note of exactly when they were delivered. Val signed for them, but he never responded to any of us.

I didn't tell Lily the truth about what had happened. The gruesome executions at the University had convinced her that it was best if Val did not come back. Although she missed him and often begged Gray Whiskers to take her south, Whiskers always told Lily that Val would send for her and the girls once he was sure they would be safe.

After the Department of Archeology was officially disbanded and the last of Val's salary spent, Lily and girls moved out of their house into the cheaper neighborhood of Glassmaker's Row. It some ways it was worse than Harlotry, but I'd recommended it anyway. At least on the other side of the city, his daughters weren't going to be living around whores.

Lily tried her hand at baking, painting, and tailoring but she never made much money and her family wasn't able to send her more than it cost to cover her rent. Tamika, Val's oldest daughter was fifteen and eager to help her mother however she could. Rose, the younger, had become quiet and reclusive. She very seldom spoke, and was often ill. When she contracted the nasty waterborne sickness that the slums of Nexus were so prone to, everyone thought that she would die. I sent Val a flurry of letters regarding his daughter's condition, all of which Gray Whiskers assured me were delivered.

With the help of a local doctor who volunteered his services, Rose eventually recovered. But her poor mother, who'd worked her hands to the bone for her daughter's sake had grown very weak and eventually succumbed to the plague herself. I wrote Val again when Lily died.

He still didn't respond.

Since their mother's only relatives were old and hardly in the position to care for them, Tamika and Rose came to live with me. Or rather, since I was still sleeping in a different bed almost every night... I took Val's girls to my mother's house.

I put off moving the girls until Lily was buried, and Val still hadn't sent a response about what he wanted for his daughters. Despite living in the same neighborhood, I'd barely seen my mother since I'd Exalted, although my grandmother visited her weekly and her whores relayed messages between the two of us. Still, there was no way I could explain what I was doing or why Rose and Tamika couldn't simply stay with me without telling her the whole truth.

It took all the courage I could muster to face my mother, in addition to some encouragement from Viper who'd expressed her sympathy for my situation in the form of a gift. It was a piece of ancient black silk, a shroud cloth from a Solar tomb capable of concealing my Caste Mark provided that I didn't burn too much Essence while I wore it. Combined with my ability to mute my own anima, it made me the stealthiest thing on the street. I adored it.

What I didn't like was Viper's implication that if I confessed what had really happened to my mother, I would probably have to start running for my life. Then again, the two of them had never gotten along. There hadn't been any more poisonings or wardrobe fires, but those kind of things were hard to forget.

I left the girls in the sitting room of my mother's teahouse. Tamika was at the age where she was particularly vulnerable to all the glamor that she saw around Harlotry... failing to realize, of course, that the girl in the lovely golden kimono on the balcony of the An-Tang Princess didn't own her finery, and probably earned significantly less than what she needed to survive. Prostitution was a business that thrived on illusion. The raw bones of it were very different than its gilded exterior.

Of course, my mother's "teahouse" with its high-class clientèle was gilded both inside and out.

I stood in the hall for ten solid minutes before mustering up the courage I needed to disturb my mother in her office. It made me smug to think that I was leaving dirty boot prints on my mother's outrageously expensive Sijanese rug. Then I opened the door.

I wouldn't admit it, but it was actually nice to see my mother. We look very similar. We're both very short, thin, and pale, although my hair is all black while hers is peppered with feathers that occasionally smoke or burn when she gets angry, just like my grandmother's.

My mother dresses ostentatiously even by Harlotry's standards, preferring strands of pearls and pale pastel colors which make her skin look almost as frosty as her personality. Her mismatched eyes, one blue and one green, never seem to look in the same direction at once, which is perhaps unsurprising since my mother is a consummate multi-tasker. Even when I was a child, she never summoned me to be scolded unless she had a massive pile of receipts that she could sort through at the same time.

When I entered she was sitting cross-legged on a mound of satin pillows, sipping her tea. With the aid of a Charm, both of her arms moved with bizarre fluidity, making her appear to have six or eight limbs. She made a mark on one account, opened a new balance book, drank her tea, and dipped her pen all at the same time – somehow looking absolutely serene in that flurry of motion.

"What do you want?" My mother asked, sounding very annoyed. She didn't even glance in my direction.

"I've barely seen you in two years, and that's how you say hello?" I demanded.

"You only come to see me when you want something," She reminded me, wagging a disapproving finger in my direction. "Why should I bother with formalities?"

She wasn't wrong, and so I didn't protest.

"I'll get to the point then. I have two girls with me. They're fifteen and twelve years old, quiet and well-behaved." I paused. "I want you to take them in."

"Absolutely not!" My mother snorted.

"Mother, you know what I think of your ability to raise children! I wouldn't have brought them here if they had anywhere else to go! Don't you even want to know why I came to you?" I demanded.

"It's irrelevant. I'm not a charity, child!" She snapped.

"And I'm not a child! You _always_ do this! I also wasn't asking for handouts but you didn't let me get that far! Tamika and Rose have nowhere to go. They're Val's kids, and because of that mess at the University, no one wants them. Their mother died last week. They're good girls and they won't steal from you! Keiko tells me you've fired Constance for "borrowing" jewelry again. Hire Tamika in her place, and let Rose help in the kitchen. They're both hard workers. You won't even have to pay either of them wages – they've already told me they'll do whatever they have to just for food and beds," I finished.

It was a deal that any whorehouse in Harlotry would have seized upon immediately. Realistically, I could have taken Tamika and Rose to Anathema's or the An-Tang Princess and gotten them a better deal... but only turning them over to my mother would ensure that they wouldn't be expected to take on any "other" responsibilities. I wanted to protect Val's girls from becoming whores however I could – and though my mother did run a brothel, she also insisted that all of her girls had years of dance lessons and were conversant in High Realm. As she often professed, anything less would reflect poorly upon her.

Though both Tamika and Rose were well-educated at their mother's insistence, they were raised like typical middle-class merchants which meant that by my mother's standards they were horrifically uncultured, un-trainable "provincial trash". The way I saw it, that was a good thing. The fact that they were both somewhat plain and mousy-looking was also to their benefit.

My mother was clearly about to start shouting about how irresponsible I was and clacking her fan in my face when both she and I caught a distinct whiff of opium. We glanced at one another momentarily, knowing that things were really about to start spiraling downhill. In her typical fashion, my grandmother appeared between us. She said nothing at first, only drawing on her pipe and evaluating the two of us where we stood, a heartbeat away from clawing each other up like a pair of stray cats.

"Take the girls, Three Pearls!" My grandmother ordered.

"Mother," My mother sneered. "This is none of your business!"

"Oh, but it is – daughter-of-mine!" My grandmother retorted. "Now will you stop being such a self-centered spiteful cow and listen to your poppet for once! This is a good deal for you and you know it!"

"Where are these girls of yours?" My mother demanded, twitching slightly at my grandmother's rather harsh appraisal of her own character.

"Downstairs with Keiko. If they don't do exactly what you say, I'll get them out of here in a day," I promised.

"They can stay," My mother gritted her teeth slightly, for the first time in my memory ignoring my grandmother and staring directly at me instead. "Provided that they work."

"They'll work. They'll work their little butts off. I'll send them up right away so you can look them over and tell them the rules," I replied, turning to leave. "And for what it's worth... thank you."

"Sapphire?" My mother interrupted me. I slowly turned to face her. "You look different."

"How would you know? You haven't looked at me since I was twelve. Maybe if I was as interesting as your receipts?" I suggested.

My mother scowled.

"Poppet!" My grandmother scolded, whapping the back of my head. "That was uncalled for!"

"You're right, I shouldn't have said that," I sighed. Then like an idiot... I bowed slightly to my grandmother, and momentarily let down my guard.

In a heartbeat my mother was on me, her bladed fan out of her kimono, completely unfolded and about two inches away from my throat. My mother was a practitioner of Dreaming Pearl Courtesan Style, a deadly supernatural martial art that I'd never possessed the necessary subtlety – or the Essence for. Having been a Solar for more than two years myself, I didn't lack the ability to wield Essence any longer... but Dreaming Pearl wasn't exactly my cup of tea. Without thinking about how bad my reaction would look, I drew one of my firewands and deftly parried her fan.

I didn't bother loading the firewand, which made my action seem even more bizarre. Any normal gunslinger would have gone for their shells even before their weapon was clear of its holster. But I'd stopped wasting my money on alchemical ammunition a long time ago. With some useful advice from my friend the Emissary, I'd also gotten so good at Righteous Devil Style that I sometimes used its more powerful techniques without thinking.

We stood for a moment and stared in silence at one another.

"Are you trying to kill me?" I demanded.

"I should ask you the same!" My mother retorted.

"You struck first!" I reminded her.

"You dodged my question! _And_ parried my fan!" She replied, unfolding her second fan with perfect fluid precision. I drew my second firewand much faster than she was able to sweep at me, and if I'd hand my finger anywhere near the trigger, I would have shot her fan out of her hand.

"Can't we ever talk about our problems like normal people?" I sighed heavily, not daring to holster my firewands. I couldn't be sure that she wouldn't try to attack me again. Like I've said before... my mother and I have that sort of relationship.

" _Righteous_ _Devil_ _Style_ ," she observed, smiling slightly. "That's no ordinary martial art. I take it that you've finally come to understand the importance of what I always tried to teach you?"

"If you mean sitting still for hours contemplating my navel and the absolute perfection of the Dragons... no, not so much," I paused.

"You didn't tell her?" My grandmother gasped. She put her hands on her hips and glared at me, pretending to disappointed. I suspected my mother knew she was feigning shock, but I still almost dropped _both_ of my firewands at her reaction.

"Grandmother, you _told_ _me_ not to tell her!" I argued over my shoulder, not daring to turn my back on my mother.

"Mother!" My mother gasped. "You encouraged my daughter to keep a secret from me?"

"Well, I didn't think she would keep it this long!" My grandmother replied.

"This long? What have you been hiding?" My mother demanded, her hands on her hips... still clutching one of her deadly fans. I somewhat expected her to throw it at me once I said the words that were stuck in my throat.

As it was, I couldn't mangle up any sort of explanation and so I did the only thing I could. I holstered my firewands, removed the shroud cloth I wore tied around my head, and illuminated my Caste Mark.

My mother didn't say anything. She only made a noise like a strangled frog and fainted dead away. My grandmother glided over to where she lay unconscious on the floor. "I suspected that might happen," She admitted with a mischievous smirk.

"I think mother had better have some time to stew this over before we try to talk again. You'll look out for Val's girls, won't you? They don't know that I'm a Solar, and it'd probably be better if they don't find out. Give mother some incentive to keep her mouth shut," I added.

"Oh, I don't think she'll need any! She'll be positively mortified when she wakes up. This is simply too delightful!" My grandmother promised, glancing down at my mother who still hadn't moved. "Take care of yourself, poppet. I'll be watching you!"

I went downstairs to check on Tamika and Rose before I left them in my mother's hands. They looked comfortable enough with Keiko, and she seemed pleased with Rose's ability to sew if a little disturbed by the girl's silence. Rose hadn't spoken a word since her mother died and I really had no way of knowing if or when she'd ever speak again.

"You can stay here. You're going to have to work hard, but you're going to be maids – not whores," I informed them.

"We aren't whores, we're _entertainers_!" Keiko corrected me.

"Keep telling yourself that," I snorted.

"I'm not afraid of work," Tamika vowed.

Rose nodded in agreement.

"Good girls," I smiled slightly. "Your mother would be proud of you. And if my mother starts acting like the monster she is... just get a little bit of sake and say a prayer to Burning Feather. She'll look out for you too. Your father wants you safe," I said before I thought better of myself. Tamika noticed my little slip-up.

"He is alive then?" She pressed. Rose blinked in surprise and almost seemed ready to speak, but all that escaped her was a harsh squeaking sound.

I didn't say yes or no, but I didn't have to.

"We always knew he was," Tamika admitted, speaking for herself and her sister. "And I understand why he ran when the Immaculate Order started threatening everyone from the University. Some Realm soldiers broke into our house, you know, and they said that father was a heretic and that he should be executed. But that was years ago! Why hasn't he come back?"

"I can't tell you that. You'd just be in danger if you knew," I replied, though I wanted desperately to explain everything. Since Val hadn't responded to any of my letters... I realistically didn't know if he'd ever return, or even if he was still alive. All I had to go on was Viper's promise that Val was fine, and I didn't want to get the girl's hopes up. "But believe me, he's trying to protect you. You're his whole world. Nothing is more important to him."

Without looking back I left the teahouse, and made it only about three blocks down the street when I felt my legs going out from under me. I leaned against a street sign and slowly slid down to sit on the ground.

"Damnit, Val!" I cursed, wiping my nose on my sleeve when I could no longer hold back the tears I'd been trying to swallow. There were a few people on the street so early in the evening and most of them avoided looking at me. The rest probably figured that I was too drunk for my own good.

Part of me I wished I was. There was nothing I hated more than feeling completely helpless.

I went looking for Honeysuckle as soon as the sun went down. When I spent time with Viper, it was very difficult to avoid talking about Val or other things that were secret, such as the subject of my own nature. With Viper I could be a Solar... but I was _always_ a Solar. And I had discovered in the years since my Exaltation that sometimes I really didn't want to be one.

I had done a lot of good with the power I possessed. The streets were safer than they had ever been after dark, and the people I looked out for... whores, middling merchants, the poor, and anyone who'd been shafted by the University were marginally better off, surviving instead of starving. I was bone tired all the time... and I smiled just a little whenever I remembered what Viper had told me was the Chrysalis "code" for Solar Exalt.

" _I_ _have_ _a_ _terrible_ _headache."_

Oh, did I ever!

I had to constantly remind myself that I had to do something besides work on organizing folks for their own benefit, steal from the wealthy to fund my "improvement" projects and beat up overly opportunistic thugs and thieves for the sake of their would-be victims. If a particularly heinous crime had been committed... it was known all around Nexus that the best person to call was "Shadowsbane" who could be found most evenings lounging around the bar at the An-Tang Princess.

Truthfully, I liked the sake at Anathema's better and Viper's prices for food and entertainment were far more reasonable, but being close to Honey did not leave me feeling so much like an outsider, like someone who didn't belong in the world that everyone else inhabited.

Despite his silly demeanor, that boy had a heart big enough to cuddle the whole world.

But on the night that I needed him most, right after Lily's death... my Honey was gone, out at a party with one of his wealthy clients. I went to sit on a favorite rooftop of mine instead. It must have been close to sunrise when the Emissary found me there.

Since he'd come to speak with me in Val's office only two days after the earthquake, I'd seen him more times than I could count. We were as close as two people probably be when one had never seen the other's face.

"You look like you've been drug through Malfeas," he informed me.

"I feel like it too," I replied with a heavy sigh. "I don't know how long I can keep this up."

"Taking care of Val's problems?" He suggested.

"That's not even fair!" I protested. "There's probably a damned good reason he's never responded to any of my letters!"

"What if there isn't?" The Emissary pressed. "What if he's just moved on?"

"Val isn't like that. You wouldn't say that if you knew him!" I argued.

"Don't you want to move on yourself?" The Emissary asked.

"And do what, exactly?" I demanded. "The same thing I've done here somewhere else? No, actually. I prefer to keep building off of all of the bloody work I've already put in! At least here in Nexus, I've got people I can trust!" I sighed. "Besides, I can't leave Val's girls with my mother if I'm not close enough to pull them out of that hellhole on a moment's notice. My grandmother says she's looking after them, but that could change tonight or tomorrow, or whenever she gets bored. Like most Gods, she's got her own agenda – which is completely independent of what anyone else needs and always takes priority!" I rolled my eyes, thinking of how she'd interrupted the fight between my mother and I earlier.

"That's not a very nice thing to say," the Emissary informed me.

"It's true," I replied. He did not protest.

"Why do you take it upon yourself to fix everyone's problems?" The Emissary demanded.

"Why do you stand by and do nothing?" I retorted.

"You think I do nothing?" He laughed at me. "I rule this whole city!"

"And that's the easiest job in Creation!" I reminded him. "This city rules itself!"

It was an old conversation between the two of us, but my companion did not cackle over my response as he usually did. "It does, more or less. But that doesn't mean I sit on my hands and do nothing at all. Right now I'm having trouble with the fae," he informed me, suddenly serious.

The Emissary _never_ confessed to having problems of his own. "I've been trying to keep the Wyld contained inside of Firewander, but lately _I_ _can't._ I think I might need your help, _"_ he admitted.

 _"_ Well, you've got me if you need me," I said. I immediately thought of the Well. There hadn't been any earthquakes recently, but I could not forget how the fae had attacked me under the Foundry, right after I'd accidentally activated it.

We sat in silence for a few moments and watched the stars.

"You know, I thought you were invulnerable," I admitted.

"Why would you think that?" He asked.

"Because I never see your face. Because you never tell me anything about yourself. You just listen to me complain about how tired I am, and how I don't understand people anymore!" I sighed in defeat.

"Did you ever understand people?" the Emissary asked.

"I thought I did," I replied. "Once upon a time anyway."

"Once upon a time, I thought so too," he sighed heavily and sat down beside me.

Again, I couldn't think of anything to say. We just sat, and after the sun went down completely, he put his arm around me. It felt very strange and stiff at first, like maybe he didn't know how to hold someone at all. I wondered, and not for the first time... if the Emissary and I had more in common than he was willing to admit.

Sometime in the early hours of the morning I must have dozed off. When I awoke, I was alone. There was a note slipped into my pocket, written in beautiful Old Realm.

 _"Sometimes_ _I_ _look_ _at_ _all_ _that_ _I've_ _done_ _here_ _in_ _Nexus,_ _and I wonder_ _if_ _any_ _of_ _it_ _is_ _worthwhile._ _Though_ _I_ _could_ _give_ _up_ _on_ _this_ _city_ _if_ _I_ _wished_ _to,_ _I've_ _chosen_ _to_ _stay_ _just_ _as_ _you_ _have._ _I've_ _been_ _to_ _Yu_ _Shan,_ _the_ _Underworld,_ _the_ _depths_ _of_ _the_ _Wyld,_ _and_ _even_ _Malfeas_ _itself._ _But no matter where I go, I_ _can_ _never really leave this place behind._ _It's_ _my_ _home_ _and_ _I_ _love_ _it,_ _despite_ _the_ _fact_ _that_ _it_ _gives_ _me_ _a terrible headache every day."_

I almost slipped off the roof as I read that last line.

So the Emissary _was_ a Solar? It didn't surprise me, but it did make me wonder why he'd never told me so before.


	20. Chapter 19 - Confessions (Sapphire)

**Chapter** **19**

 **Confessions**

Three years later, I was still heading up Team Firewander. When I wasn't in the sewers hunting fae, I was tracking down murderers on the streets of Tellnaught or settling personal disputes between whores in Harlotry. I didn't have a permanent place to rest my head, but that didn't bother me. Jumping back and forth between Viper and Honeysuckle's beds suited me better than settling down with either of them – and it made me harder to find.

The Immaculate Order still hunted a particularly stealthy Iron Wolf who occasionally liberated small-time crooks and heretics from their custody. Though they didn't know who I actually was, a dozen teenaged Dragonbloods who couldn't officially call together a Wyld Hunt had also started combing the streets for any signs of "Shadowsbane", suspecting that Nexus's beloved vigilante and the Immaculate Order's hated Anathema might be somehow connected.

My work became increasingly dangerous. My reputation had exploded into something I really didn't know how to deal with, and I'd eventually decided to supplement "Team Firewander" with a few other groups of unemployed archaeologists, local heretics, and mercenaries. They were all over the city, exploring bricked-up First Age ruins and putting down vicious fae at the same time.

Though I tried many times to contact him, I hadn't heard a word from Val. His girls remained with my mother, who grudgingly admitted that they were the best servants she'd ever had. Stingy as she usually was, she even began paying them a menial wage just so that they wouldn't be tempted to see employment elsewhere – especially since Tamika was legally an adult. Her greatest aspiration was to be an "entertainer", which annoyed me to no end. I tried to dissuade her but my arguments weren't very convincing when I showed up dressed in grubby clothes, reeking like the undercity, and sometimes bruised or scratched up to boot. Rose has not spoken a word since her mother's death, but I supposed there was nothing to be done for her. The girls were as safe and happy as they could be and I definitely had my work cut out for me.

The Wyld had spread out of Firewander as the Emissary feared it might, and Fox and I spent a good amount of our time killing flying hagfish. Hagfish are ugly, vicious carrion eaters that look like some kind of fae-tainted bottom-feeder with long tentacles and lots of teeth. Usually they're found in putrid water where they float invisible under the surface and wait for unsuspecting prey. But that's where their resemblance to any honest sea creature ends. Among other things, they actually _fly_.

Fox and I were on our way to meet up with Kasashi, who was out hunting hagfish one afternoon when Kitten caught me on the street and drug me to Anathema's claiming that whatever her mistress needed was too important to wait. Fox was eager to shoot some fae, and understandably annoyed when Viper informed him that he needed to wait outside while she and I talked in the pantry. He'd been present for more than a few of my secret conversations with her and knew that something important was being purposefully kept from him.

I wasn't sure if he guessed what we were really discussing, but he never pressed the issue. Like the rest of my team, Fox was content to follow me even if I didn't pay him. I had a sneaking suspicion that he made his living most of the time by means of his original profession – picking pockets. Still, Fox said nothing about thieving and I didn't ask him. It was obvious that he'd rather do honest work if he could. As he'd informed me on more than one occasion, Nexus's overcrowded jail was " _a_ _bad_ _place_ _to_ _be_ _a_ _Djala_."

Viper smiled slightly as Kitten drug Fox back into the bar and poured him more beer than he could possibly drink. When he was safely away, she passed me a pair of letters. The first was written in incoherent Rivertongue and signed "Bruja". It said only that she'd arrived in Nexus with her nephew who wanted to work for "Shadow". The second letter made my heart skip a beat. At first I saw Viper's handwriting, but then I realized that the folded, stained piece of paper had actually come from Val!

Though I couldn't guess how I'd ever missed something so important, apparently the University was reestablishing the Archaeological Department, and recalling all of its professors who had managed to survive the Immaculate Order's ruthless purge. Val was coming back to Nexus. And with how old his letter was... I realized that he could very well be in town already.

I knew without a doubt who was responsible for completely transforming the University's attitude towards its most infamous Department, and smiled at the thought. I wasn't in a hurry to thank the Heptagram for complaining about needing more magical materials... but when I saw the Emissary again, I was going to kiss him.

Still, Val's letter was shockingly short and not at all personal. If his Old Realm penmanship hadn't been so perfect, I would have suspected it was written by someone else entirely.

"What do you think about all of this?" I asked Viper.

"Don't know. I'd rather not jump to any conclusions just yet," She replied with a shrug. "You and Fox heading off to kill fae in the sewers again?"

"It's what we do best," I bowed dramatically and took my leave.

Fox and I headed over to the Tomb of Singing Blades and loitered on the street corner until we could be sure that no Immaculate monks were watching us. The remains of one of the University's excavations had given us a few maps of the area that we planned to explore and though I hadn't explained my new talent to Fox, he'd gotten wise to the fact that I could somehow open ancient doors _without_ explosives.

A single mote of Essence was all it took in most cases, though in the deeper ruins sometimes I used so much of my own power that I ran the risk of glowing involuntarily. So far, none of the members of Team Firewander knew that I was the Solar that half of the monks in the city were hunting – and I intended to keep it that way. It wasn't that I didn't trust my friends. It was just that what they didn't know couldn't get them hurt.

Fox and I worked our way towards our old Firewander excavation site, opening seven doors and killing eleven hagfish along the way. The last one proved to be especially stubborn, and when I used one of my favorite Charms to test the area we'd come to for more monsters, I felt an all-too familiar sensation. I'd used enough Essence that my caste mark had begun flickering, but my shroud cloth still muted it.

Fox looked dead tired. "Where the hell is Kasashi?" He demanded, his hands on his hips. We'd arrived at the site where Fluffy's tail was buried, which was where our partner in crime was supposed to have been waiting for us. Water had seeped into the site and it reeked of something too foul to consider.

A loud gurgling noise drew my attention and I seized my firewands.

"Fox, _down_!" I ordered.

He dropped to the ground.

A huge flying hagfish – the biggest one I'd ever seen rose out of the muck behind him and let loose a bone-jarring shriek, stunning Fox where he stood. I used a Charm I shouldn't have dared invoke and fired a huge burst of Essence at the fae.

It would be fair to say that I overdid it a bit. The hagfish exploded, splattering the ceiling, the floor and both of us in green goo. A dozen sticks of dynamite would have made such a mess, and Fox would _never_ believe that any kind of Firewand shell could pack the kind of punch I'd just demonstrated. But it was worse than that. I could smell the Essence that I was radiating starting to burn through my shroud cloth.

"Sonova bitch!" I cursed, tearing off the cloth and seeing where my caste mark had already incinerated a perfect circle in the fabric. There was still enough shroud remaining that I could fix it, but I'd have to be more careful in the future. I'd already burned three holes in the damned thing, and it was starting to look ragged.

Spitting out sewer water, Fox slowly rose to his feet and turned in my direction. His usual little smile broadened into the biggest shit-eating grin I'd ever seen on his face as he saw me.

"Don't say a word!" I warned. "To _anyone_ , I mean it! Not a word, Fox!"

"I knew it!" He crowed triumphantly, dancing around the smoldering corpse of the hagfish. When he'd exhausted all the energy he had left and giggled so much that he couldn't breath, he sat cross-legged on a rock and stared at me.

"What are you waiting for me to say?" I demanded.

"Something _amazing?_ " He suggested. "You can't just keep standing there with your mouth flapping open like a dead fish. You're a friggin' Solar!"

"You don't think I'm going to kill you?" I wondered uneasily.

"I've been working for you for a long time, Sapphire! And before that I worked for you and Val!" He reminded me. "I have almost been killed _plenty_ of times on the job - but never _once_ because of something _you_ did! Bruja, on the other hand... keep _her_ away from _ladders!"_

"All right, point taken!" I remembered the incident very well. Before Bruja had gone home to her tribe in the north, she and I and Fox had been hired by Gray Whiskers to go looking for a killer fae that was supposively stalking the streets of Nighthammer. When the monster had finally shown itself, Bruja had seized a nearby ladder to hold it off and had damn near knocked Fox's head from his shoulders with one phenomenal swing.

Still, I was surprised to see my friend taking things so well.

"Y'know, right before that hagfish came flying at us, I was looking at the wall over there." He took a piece of sopping wet chalk out of his pocket and went over to the inscription. Like most everything far below the streets, it was written in Old Realm.

" _The_ _Great_ _Faeslayer_ _drew_ _a_ _line_ _in_ _the_ _sand_ ," He recited. " _And_ _he_ _said_ _to the_ _Weeping_ _Maiden – this_ _is_ _the_ _line_ _that_ _you_ _shall_ _not_ _cross!_ " Taking his chalk, Fox hopped across what was left of the bridge that the hagfish had collided with and drew a line across the stones with his wet chalk. "You see that? Epic!" He declared.

"You're giving me way too much credit. It was only a hagfish!" I sighed.

"Damnit, Sapphire! Aren't I allowed to be impressed?" Fox protested.

"I don't want you getting the wrong idea about all this," I argued.

"Which would be _what,_ exactly?" He gestured to the elaborate ceiling over our heads. Despite the damage that time and the Wyld had done, it was still numbingly beautiful.

"I'm not dumb, Sapphire," he informed me. "I'm pretty sure I'm not getting three wishes or anything like that. But this kind of thing is not supposed to be in the world!" He pointed to the hagfish. "People pretend that it's not down here because they don't want to admit that the Wyld's closing in on us like we know it is. They're dead wrong if they think that ignoring a problem like this will make it go away. But you know what they're really dead wrong about? The "Perfected" Hierarchy! When is the last time a Dragonblood has ever looked out for anyone besides another Dragonblood? How many Immaculates do you see down here killing hagfish?" Fox demanded. "I've said this before and I'll say it again. We, the people - are all being exploited! We're being kept down, and worked to death and none of us have anything to show for it! The whole system is corrupt!"

"Are you trying to start a revolution?" I eyed him suspiciously.

"Nah, I'm just a Djala! Nobody would listen to me. But _you_! _You_ could do it!" He retorted.

"I'm a pretty lousy leader, Fox. I like to be in the middle of everything. I have no ability to bullshit or delegate, and no tolerance for stupidity." I informed him.

"That's why it should be you!" Fox protested. "And Lords of Creation get to have advisors, don't they?" He teased, elbowing me.

"If I'm ever a lord of anything, you'll be my Grand Vizier." I vowed and he laughed. "But don't start telling anyone about this. I mean it! I'll definitely get killed if you can't keep your big mouth shut!"

"Heh. You've got a deal! Yeesh, this place sure stinks!" He wrinkled his nose. "Let's go home and get a bath!" Fox decided.

"Home?" I wondered.

"To the Teahouse," Fox supplied.

"I don't live there," I reminded him.

"I do. Your mother lets me sleep in the kitchen, and she sometimes gives me work to do. Yesterday I cleaned the gutters. This morning the bath clogged. Biggest lump of hair you've ever seen in the drain. Took me hours to get it all out," Fox replied.

"Ew," I grimaced... though realistically a clump of greasy hair had nothing on a steaming pile of hagfish guts. "Look, Fox... I don't like dealing with my mother if I can avoid it. And I can't go anywhere until I stop glowing anyway. Right now I'll burn my shroud cloth and I really doubt that Viper can find me another one."

"Does she know you're a Solar?" Fox wondered.

"Who, Viper?" I asked.

"No, your mother," Fox clarified.

"She does, but it's a sore issue. Don't bring it up. I swear, she'd turn me over to the Immaculate Order if she didn't think my grandmother would curse her for it. She knows she can't run her business without my grandmother's approval. You piss off the Goddess of Intoxicants and your guests will be getting sick on bad wine and sour beer forever!" I informed him.

"I don't think it's that simple," Fox protested.

"That my mother only tolerates me because my grandmother forces her to? Oh no, it is _definitely_ that simple!" I argued.

"Your mother isn't as bad as you make her sound. Most people won't give a Djala a fair wage in this town. And she took in Tamika and Rose didn't she?" Fox reminded me.

"As maids!" I glared at him.

"Would you rather they were whores?" Fox reprimanded me. "With the new Law in place, we can go back to the University now. We've made it through the worst bit. From here, it starts to get easier."

"You may be right," I admitted.

"I always am!" Fox reminded me. "So when is Val due to arrive?" He gestured to the letter that was sticking out of my pocket, the one I'd gotten from Viper earlier. Apparently he'd overheard enough of our conversation to recognize it.

"Soonish. And I'd like to talk to everyone before he gets here," I admitted.

" _Everyone_?" Fox wondered incredulously. "Um, Sapphire... there is no place in this city big enough for _everyone_ who works for you."

"I'm talking about the _original_ Team Firewander," I informed him, and he lit up with a broad grin at that suggestion. "Bruja got into town yesterday, and I've heard that Mehmed's been hanging around Mercenary Square since the end of last week. As for Kasashi, I'm sure he'd rather come back to the University instead of slaving away at that crappy noodle shop. I bet that's where he is today." I paused.

I _hoped_ that was where Kasashi was. The alternative was too awful to consider.

"It is a pretty crappy noodle shop, isn't it? I won't even "help myself" to their leftovers." Fox agreed. "See you in the morning then?"

"At Val's old office. The Emissary says it'll be safe. Find Kasashi, and let him know. I'll have to wait down here for a little while, but I'll be okay." I added as Fox departed with a ridiculous salute.

"As you wish, oh glorious _illuminated_ leader!" He proclaimed.

"Don't make fun of me you mangy Djala! When I'm queen I'll have you put in the stocks!" I warned, laughing as I pretended to pitch a rock at him. Fox only bowed dramatically and disappeared into the dark.

When I'd stopped burning brightly myself, I put my shroud cloth on and made my way back to the surface and over to Anathema's. I sent two of Viper's girls to track down the other members of my old crew and spent the remainder of the day pacing in Viper's bedroom, trying to sort out what I was going to say to everyone in the morning. I'd decided on only one thing. Before Team Firewander started working together again full-time... I wanted to tell Bruja, Mehmed and Kasashi what Fox had already learned... that I was a Solar.

I wouldn't confess Val's secret - that was his business, but I couldn't justify not trusting the four people who had regularly put their lives in my hands for so many years, particularly when poking around below the city streets had become so dangerous.

If I laid things out as they were from the beginning, I wouldn't have to worry about holding back when my friends were about to get drowned, eaten or worse. Of course, there weren't a whole lot of ways that I could really envision breaking the news to all of them.

 _"Yes..._ _now_ _that_ _we're_ _all_ _holed_ _up_ _together_ _in_ _this_ _tiny_ _little_ _office,_ _I_ _think_ _you_ _should_ _all_ _know_ _that_ _I'm_ _a_ _fire-breathing_ _baby-eating_ _Anathema!_ _Wait,_ _no!_ _Don't_ _run!_ _Let_ _me_ _lock_ _the_ _door_ _so_ _that_ _I_ _can_ _ravish_ _you!"_

I proclaimed out loud, watching my reflection in Viper's mirror. My caste mark was still very obvious when I didn't try to mute it. I'd gotten past the point where I thought that it looked a little frightening a long time ago and sometimes wished that I could just walk out on the street without hiding it.

I had a persistent fantasy about going to a fancy dress party with Val or sometimes Honeysuckle. With either escort, the basic idea was the same. I was dressed in fabulous First Age clothing and everyone who saw the mark on my brow viewed it as expensive piece of jewelry, marveling at how beautiful it was and asking me where I got it.

Trying to sound like a demon made me feel like an idiot so I decided to try a different approach. Still evaluating my own reflection, I put my hands on my hips and tried to make myself look like a hero from _The_ _Forty-Seven_ _Ronin_. I felt only mildly less stupid.

 _"Well,_ _actually,_ _I'm a Lord_ _of_ _Creation_ _and_ _I've_ _come_ _to_ _save_ _the_ _world!"_ _I_ _said_ _to_ _the_ _mirror._ _"I_ _can_ _explode_ _giant_ _hagfish_ _with_ _my_ _mind_ _and_ _I like to hang_ _out_ _on_ _rooftops_ _getting_ _sloshed_ _with_ _The_ _Emissary._ _And_ _when_ _I_ _rule_ _this_ _city_ _again,_ _Little_ _Fox_ _will_ _be_ _my_ _Grand_ _Vizier!"_

That was when Viper broke down laughing hysterically. I hadn't realized that I'd gained an audience. "Ooh, confessions! Always so much fun!" She sat down on her bed and folded her hands, watching me intently. "Spill the beans, Sapphire dear! Who do you want to tell?"

"Well, it's not a matter of who I want to tell... it's more a matter of who already knows," I admitted.

"Someone caught you?" Viper blinked in surprise. "Who?"

"Fox," I sighed in defeat.

"Ah. So now you're telling _everyone_? Before he does?" She observed.

"Not everyone. Just my crew," I replied.

" _Your_ crew? As opposed to Val's crew?" Viper pressed.

I wondered when it was that I'd stopped thinking about Team Firewander as Val's and started considering it my own.

"How many people are working for you now anyway?" Viper asked.

"Directly or _indirectly_?" I hesitated.

"Directly. How many people have actually seen your face and have some idea of what you do?" Viper clarified. "Basically, who knows that _you_ are "Shadowsbane"?"

I paused and considered. "Um... Mama Bear and her boys down in Fishmarket, Gray Whiskers, Adamant Quill, Dead Eddie, Honeysuckle, y _ou_ , Kitten, Sei, Tsuchigomo, Saturnyne, Doctor Basha, everybody on Team Nexus, everybody on Team Nighthammer, Team Big Market, Team Firewander... Altogether probably fifty... maybe _seventy_ people?" I admitted, realizing belatedly that a head count of every contact I was working was probably long overdue.

"Seventy!" Viper gaped at me. "Sapphire, last month you told me you had _four_ "employees" _!_ "

"I only have four _!_ " I retorted. "Bruja's been gone since last summer. Aside from her... Kasashi, Mehmed, Fox, and Honey are the only people I ever pay!"

"So you're telling me that you have "about" fifty to seventy people in this city _who_ _work_ _for_ _you_ _and_ _don't_ _get_ _paid._.. in Nexus, the grand ol' town of _you-can-buy-anything-for-the-right-amount-of-jade_? What are you trying to do?" Viper demanded.

"I don't know. It's just getting really dangerous in the undercity! Street kids, whores, slaves, foreigners – they've all been disappearing!" I protested. "Fox almost got eaten by a hagfish today, and he's been doing this kind of thing longer than anyone else I have! If I'm going to keep sending my people to get killed by monsters... they've got a right to know who I am and what I'm trying to do. The Emissary can keep his mask on if he wants to. I'm not picking up that habit."

"But how do you know that you won't get turned over to the Wyld Hunt? Can you really _trust_ your people?" Viper pressed.

"I have to!" I paused. "If I don't trust them, I can't lead them!"

"Aww!" Viper exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"What's so funny?" I demanded.

"I've been waiting years to hear you say that," Viper replied.

"That I'm in charge?" I hazarded a guess.

"That you're _supposed_ to be in charge!" She corrected. "Don't you ever wonder where the name "Lawgiver" came from?"

"Only your friend Silvermane calls me that," I reminded her, wrinkling my nose with distaste. I didn't like the sobriquet at all, and was somewhat annoyed that the old barbarian used it at least once every time we spoke.

"That's because Silvermane _knows_! He's more than 2,000 years old. Him and my Mira are the only Lunars who set foot in this city who actually _remember_ what the First Age was like! Silvermane doesn't just see you as you see yourself! He sees what you _can_ be. What you're _going_ _to_ _be_." Viper finished. "Think of what you've done so far and start thinking _bigger!_ Way bigger!"

I buried my head in my hands. "Damnit, Viper! Don't do this to me! Right now I don't even want to think about tomorrow morning, let alone three thousand years in the future!"

"Oh, Sapphire! I told you once that you had some growing up to do... you and Val both," Viper reminded me. "When Gray Whiskers brought the letter I gave you, he told me that Grandmother Spider fixed Val a No Moon. That's no small thing. The old bitch never seemed to think anyone deserved to know her secrets, not before your friend came along. The past few years Val's really been making a name for himself down South. Nothing you'd hear outside of Lunar circles yet, but... he'll have a reputation all over soon enough. The name they're calling him is "No Tears". Not sure what the story is on that one, but it has something to do with killing a monster."

"I really can't picture Val doing anything besides burying his nose in a book!" I laughed slightly.

"Well, that's what he _has_ been doing, more or less," Viper replied. "But he's recently traded _history_ for a new favorite subject." She paused, evidently enjoying a little dramatic moment before she revealed anything more. " _Sorcery,_ " Viper finished.

"Sorcery!" I gasped in disbelief. "Val?"

"Yup! And apparently he's an absolute _genius._ " Viper smirked. "But enough about your "beau"," She teased in a tone that warned me she'd been talking with my grandmother recently. I didn't really want to know what sort of conversation they'd had. Something told me I wouldn't like it. Viper slipped behind me and set her chin on my shoulder. "I'm _bored,_ " she whispered. Those were terrifying words coming from Viper. With a wicked grin, she seized hold of my belt and pulled me down onto the floor.

I wouldn't have crawled out of bed at all the following morning if I hadn't already promised to meet everyone at the University. It took me forever to find most of my clothes and when I did see where my shirt had gone I discovered that there was very little left of it. Having no other choice, I settled for something out of Viper's wardrobe, which was a lot more revealing than I preferred. I doubted anyone would notice how low my shirt was cut with what I was about to tell them anyway.

And even if the guys were distracted by my chest, I had a surefire way of getting them to pay attention to my face instead.

We met in Val's office. The University had pretty well cleaned it out after the Archaeological Department was disbanded, but pooling all of our resources, Team Firewander had managed to re-stock everything we might conceivably need and a few new gadgets that were an improvement on our old gear.

It helped that Mehmed had found "temporary storage" for all of Val's more sensitive research. Though I hadn't heard a word from him in years, I couldn't imagine that my old friend had changed so much that he wouldn't be delighted by the sight of his treasured library in one piece.

"I assume you're all wondering why I called you here," I glanced around the room. The years hadn't been kind to Bruja or Mehmed, but it was nice seeing everyone in one room again. Bruja's nephew sat right behind her. He didn't seem to understand everyone else speaking so quickly in Rivertongue, but the kid was built like a mammoth, and I knew Team Firewander could put the monstrous ax he carried to good use.

"We know that Val's coming back. And that the University has said we can all have our jobs back," Kasashi paused. "It seems suspicious."

"If the Emissary hadn't walked right into the last University Fellows meeting, we wouldn't be here right now. People still hold us responsible for the earthquake, and the Immaculate Order still thinks that Archeology is a nest of heretics. The University is not going to take it easy on us if we put a toe out of line, so we'll need to deliver to them _exactly_ what they want to hear," I explained.

Bruja translated for her nephew. He nodded, seeming to understand that I expected everyone to be on their best behavior.

"Sheesh, what happened to academic integrity?" Fox demanded. "Isn't the University supposed to be about the pursuit of knowledge? Truth?" He pressed, giving me a look that made me bury my face in my hands and groan.

"Yes, Fox!" I sighed heavily. "That _is_ what it's supposed to be about! But if we want to be able to do our jobs _legitimately_ instead of running away from our dig sites like criminals, we're going to have to be very careful about what we say. That doesn't mean we're going to withhold the truth from the people who deserve to hear it. On the contrary. We're just going to have to consider alternate ways of spreading information."

"Shadowsbane!" Kasashi grinned. "Public Enemy Number One. Monster and menace!"

"Hero!" Bruja corrected.

Her nephew nodded. "Hero!" He echoed.

"Not as far as the Realm is concerned. But thank you for your support!" I bowed dramatically.

"Shadowsbane and her wretched minions are going to do _everything_ they can to make the University look like it's hiding the truth – which we all know it _is_. And Team Firewander is going to be the _most_ repentant, most honest excavation team in all of Nexus. I'll even set foot in the Temple of Mela if I have to!" I vowed, and Mehmed laughed.

"Sapphire, you would burst into flames if you came within a hundred yards of an Immaculate Temple," He informed me.

"It's nice to know you've got so much faith in me," I rolled my eyes.

"Everything you have said, we already knew," Bruja admitted. "But there is something else?"

"Yes," I paused. "You all know that the Immaculate Order – and most of the University is still looking for that, um... "Anathema"? Well, that demon is going to rear its head again."

"It is not a demon," Mehmed jumped to my defense.

"Yeah, it's a demon!" I cut him off.

"The Illuminated are _not_ demons!" He protested. "They are the Chosen of the Unconquered Sun, the same who built all of the ruins that we have uncovered! Surely you do not believe that creators of such beauty are creatures of Malfeas?"

"Solars have been extinct for more than a thousand years!" Kasashi argued. "The whole "Wyld Hunt" business is Realm propaganda! Even _my_ _mother_ says it's bullshit!" He added. Kasashi's mother Sotoko Yumei considered herself an expert on a lot of things, and while Kasashi couldn't quite free himself from her figurative apron strings, I had a very different perspective on the woman. Basically, she liked to take jabs at the Realm so that she could downplay her own floundering political career.

"The Illuminated are returning to make the world as it once was, a paradise! Wait and you will see!" Mehmed laughed.

"Yes, I must agree with Mehmed. They _are_ returning. But what shape their world will take, I do not know," Bruja paused. "There is an Icewalker chief, in the homeland of my people. He has very great power. It is like the stories describe, like the pictures on the walls."

"Superstition. Rumors. You know, a Dragonblood with some training in sorcery could convince a bunch of tribesmen that he was a demon! Or it could be fae! Or an actual demon!" Kasashi protested.

"If you believe in demons, then why not Solars?" Fox put his hands on his hips.

"Oh for the love of... I sighed heavily and slammed my hands down on the table, visibly cracking the wood. Bruja blinked in surprise. "Kasashi, do you have to be such a skeptic?" I demanded.

"I'm an academic. I'm supposed to be a skeptic!" He retorted. "Pursuit of truth and all that?"

"Well, fine. I suppose I might as well out with it then. The Anathema they're looking for is _me_."

Everyone stared.

Then Kasashi laughed. It was a short, barking sound – like he really didn't think the situation was funny at all but felt compelled to break the silence.

"You don't believe me?" I observed.

"I have seen the ones you speak of. They are terrifying. Gods," Bruja admitted nervously.

"No, they are not Gods! They are not gods, and they are not demons! The Illuminated are Chosen, like the Dragonblooded! But greater than them! Why do none of you understand this?" Mehmed protested.

"I understand," I replied. Mehmed glanced in my direction. He looked very uncomfortable, and I suspected that he'd realized I was quite serious.

"Look, boss... I'm not sure where you're going with this but it's really making me wonder if you don't have a few screws loose or..." Kasashi began.

"Kasashi," Fox interrupted. "Shut up, and let her finish."

"Yes, please!" Bruja agreed. "Our leader is trying to speak. The rest of us should not be arguing!"

Kasashi looked annoyed.

Mehmed paused. "Are you truly one of the Illuminated?"

"I don't want you worshipping me," I told him.

Mehmed sighed. "My people do not worship Solars! We worship the Unconquered Sun! And we understand that the Realm is wrong to call his Chosen Anathema. We should honor them, because they are meant to help and protect us. The Unconquered Sun marks his Illuminated so that we may know our leaders when we meet them," Mehmed explained.

Once again, Mehmed was right, but I didn't feel like telling him so. I'd wondered about the Cult of the Illuminated since I'd first heard of it. It seemed to be a little too regimented for my tastes, but obviously they had a good source of information.

"Do you have such a mark?" Bruja wondered. She says something again in Icewalker to her nephew. "Like the Bull of the North? He has a... star, star sun on his brow that burns and makes him very big. Big." She hesitated. "This is not the right word. He _is_ big. It makes him more big. Bright. Frightening." She then repeated everything she had said in the Icewalker language and her nephew nodded in agreement.

"Bahk says that the Bull can make his mark go away, and then show it when he wants." Bruja added.

Bahk? So that was the kid's name? It made me think of the word "brick" and it suited him.

Kasashi couldn't take anymore. "This conversation is ridiculous!" He protested.

"Shut up, Kasashi!" Fox snapped.

"Fox, you're _not_ helping!" I sighed heavily and pulled the curtains.

"You all know me. I don't waste people's time! If I tell you something that sounds crazy, all you gotta do is ask me to prove it," I returned to my seat and waited for a moment for everyone to simmer down.

Taking a deep breath, I called up my Caste Mark. "Satisfied?"

"Sun-in-Glory!" Mehmed gasped.

Bruja and Bahk clung to one another like a pair of frightened children. Fox giggled gleefully and as I turned to Kasashi he flipped right out of his chair. Everyone winced as he hit the floor.

There was a long and uncomfortable silence, but no one ran for the door.

"Well, that went well," I observed, letting my mark fade. I went over to see if Kasashi was okay. He didn't take my hand when I first offered it, but then grudgingly reached up and allowed me to pull him onto his feet.

"I am the same person you've always worked for. I've actually been a Solar for the past five years. It's why I didn't die when the dig site collapsed and half of the Big Market fell on me," I informed Kasashi. "You told me the last time we were out hunting hagfish that you like me better than you used to. That you think I'm doing good work. Helping people. That's not going to change. In fact, I want to start doing more, but that means I'll be risking my branded head," I laughed slightly. "If you want off the Team, you can quit. I won't hold it against you. Any quitters?"

No one moved. Fox grinned like a maniac, and Bruja smiled slightly herself.

"You knew we were all heretics when you hired us," Mehmed admitted, slowly standing and rubbing his elbow. "I've never actually met an Illuminated before. Though I heard from some of my cousins that one came through here several days ago. A Bronze Tiger, with the Wyld Hunt."

"A Dawn Caste? With the Ravenous Winds? That's a dangerous place to hide!" I grimaced.

"Oh, I think he is not hiding very well! Mehmed laughed. "Tell me, have you heard the name Cathak Loren?"

"Of course! Damn, every mercenary in this city is in love with that guy! First mortal Talonlord in the Realm," I paused, suddenly realizing the enormity of what Mehmed was proposing. "You think he's a Solar?"

"I know so. A cousin of mine is a maid in a wealthy house on Sentinel Hill. She walking home at night when a man tried to accost her. A stranger saved her, a soldier with tremendous skill. He shattered the blade of his sword on a wall and as he disappeared. The Emissary appeared on a rooftop nearby, and he does not show himself without reason. But if an Illuminated One were to be acting in his city... he would certainly wish to know about it. He has shown himself to you?"

It was not really a question. I nodded. "We like to get drunk together on the roof of the Guild Hall," I admitted.

"You _drink_ with the Emissary?" Kasashi laughed.

I'd done more than drink with the man, but I wasn't going to tell Kasashi that.

"And about you being a Solar? Does Valen know?" Mehmed asked. "He is, well... probably the most orthodox of all of us."

"He's not as orthodox as you think, and yes, he knows. He's known since the earthquake. I helped get him out of the city," I admitted, though I didn't want to say why. As far as Team Firewander was concerned, the Immaculate Order's purge of the Archaeology Department was reason enough. "I hope I've proven that you can still trust me. I would have told you all years ago, but I just wasn't sure how you'd react if you knew the truth. And I wanted to be sure that I wasn't putting you in danger. Well, more danger anyway. There's certain hazards that come with the job," I admitted, pushing a crate of dynamite with my foot.

"I look forward to more archeology. So does Bahk." Bruja replied.

The kid said something in Icewalker, put his ax on the floor and bowed to me.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Bahk says he is glad to be earning great honor so that he can return to our tribe and marry. He is now sure that he was meant to come here and serve you. He had thought to go to the Bull of the North, but this is much more exciting." She explained. "It will give him many tales to tell his children."

"Hey, we're archaeologists, not heroes!" I laughed.

"I did not know there was a difference," Bruja admitted.

Mehmed laughed. "Bruja is right. Since you have been leading us... well, does Val know what he is coming back to?"

"Um, we'd better not tell him about the housing project or Team Nighthammer. Actually, we'd better not tell him about any of the other teams. Or the tally on flying hagfish," I admitted.

"One twenty-five!" Kasashi announced.

"One seventy-nine!" Mehmed added.

"Two forty-three!" Fox smirked.

"Damnit, Fox... how do you do it? You're not counting _her_ kills, are you?" Kasashi demanded. "How many have _you_ killed anyway?"

"I don't waste my time on flying hagfish!" I protested, although I did. Not counting the big one I'd blown up recently, my own tally was somewhere around four-hundred.

"What's this about flying hagfish I hear?" A familiar voice laughed.

"Val!" I leapt out of my seat and tackled Val to the floor before he even got two steps into the room.

"Nice to see you too, Sapphire!" He groaned.

"Don't you give me that! I haven't heard a word from you in five years!" I scolded, punching him.

Mehmed slowly closed the door that Val had left ajar. My old friend sighed heavily and took his usual chair, the one I'd been sitting in at the head of the table. I resumed my favored perch on the cabinet just over his shoulder and Val sighed heavily.

"Welcome back, Professor," Kasashi grinned.

"It is good to see you again," Mehmed added.

"It's good to be back," Val paused. He seemed to be thinking about something, but I couldn't guess what.

"So, what are we working on first, Professor?" Fox asked eagerly. "Whispering Serpent? White Gold Tower? Tomb of Red Hot Iron?" He suggested. "Oh! I heard about a really _neat_ manse that's supposed to be about sixty miles from here. They call it Pandora's Box! There's supposed to be _tons_ of traps! And a killer construct that no one's ever gotten past!"

Val smiled slightly. "Your news is slightly out of date, Fox."

"You were in there already?" Fox blinked in surprise. "Aw, damn!"

"You didn't tell them why I left, did you?" Val raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"I didn't," I replied. "I thought that was your business."

"Well," Val paused. He rolled up the sleeves of the long, brown, southern-style garment that he wore. Moonsilver tattoos beginning at his wrists worked their way all the way up his arms to his neck. He was marked three or four times more than Viper was. It almost looked like half of his body was made of silver. I didn't know what would make such intricate Wyld tattoos a necessity, but I was certain that it would be almost impossible to get Val to spill the whole of what had happened to him.

"Let's just say that I've been very busy down in Chiarascuro," he finished. The mark on his brow was very distinctive and though I'd met a dozen different Lunars, mostly friends of Viper's... I'd never seen one like it before. What had Viper called him? Apparently, one had to pass a certain kind of test in order to be deemed worthy of the designation "No Moon". Not that I was surprised. I'd never met anyone with a mind like Val's. Even the gods would have to recognize that he was extraordinary.

Kasashi swore. Though he'd been willing to argue that Solars were mythical – or at very least extinct, not one of my friends who'd ever set foot inside Anathema's would ever fail to recognize Lunar tattoos, especially since Viper was so prone to flaunting hers.

"Anyone leaving?" Val asked. "I won't hold it against you."

No one moved.

"She's a Solar," Fox pointed to me.

"That makes me scarier than you," I informed Val.

"Well, I suppose that's no surprise," Val took a deep breath. "We're all going to have to keep our noses clean, at least as far as the University and the Immaculate Order is concerned. I'll be teaching a few classes this summer, and all of you will be working with Professor Sandoval on his Shogunate Era dig under the Big Market."

"Boring!" Fox groaned.

Bruja sighed, Mehmed rolled his eyes, and even Kasashi looked disappointed.

" _Publicly_ ," Val clarified. Fox was the first to perk up.

"The first thing we're _really_ doing," Val smiled slightly. He produced an ancient map from his traveling bag and unfolded it on the table in front of us. Mehmed gave a low whistle and I stifled a gasp as I read the Old Realm characters. "Is finding _this!"_

"What is it?" Bruja wondered nervously.

"A library," I replied, still staring at the map. "A... really, _really_ big one."

Bruja translated for her nephew and I smiled to myself as I watched the expressions on everyone's faces as they pored over the treasure Val had brought with him.

"Books?" Bahk wondered. "I... am not sure I understand. I thought we look for treasure?"

"There are things in this world more valuable than gold or jade. Knowledge," Val explained. He produced a little golden ball from his bag and rolled it across the table to me.

I picked it up. It wasn't gold at all, but solid orichalcum. The magical metal felt a little warm to the touch and seemed to resonate under my fingertips. I knew from my own research that orichalcum responded to Solar Essence the way that jade reacted with the Essence of the Dragonblooded and I'd experimented with more than a few artifacts that I'd found in my undercity spelunking. But I'd never encountered anything as alluring as that little ball. I knew I'd held one exactly like it before, thousands of years ago.

It was a Resplendent Whirlagig. Putting a few motes of Essence into the thing, I gasped as it unfolded into a delicate little creature and fluttered around the room, trailing golden light.

Bahk's reaction was priceless. The big, burly Icewalker clapped his hands together and stared up with an expression of wonder on his face.

Mehmed almost threw his chair into Kasashi, uttering a word in Murqai that I didn't recognize. "A miracle!" He exclaimed.

"All I did was put some Essence in it," I informed him.

"It lives!" Bahk protested, pointing.

Clearly, there was no way I could underplay what I'd just done.

"I guess it is pretty neat," I admitted, glancing at Val.

"Their maker called them Resplendent Whirlagigs," Val explained. "I've taken a few of them apart, but I've never actually seen one _fly_ before. They're... _toys_ , I think."

"Surveillance. Or... you know, spying," I corrected him. I knew that the distinctive little constructs had been created by Perfect Mechanical Soul. According to the Emissary, she was a genius, but paranoid even by Solar standards.

"Have you got another one?" I asked, glancing at the bag he'd set down near his desk.

"Oh! Absolutely!" In fine ferret form, Val leapt to his feet, scrambled through his belongings and promptly deposited four more golden balls in front of me.

"Yeah! Turn em' all on!" Fox cheered.

One by one, I gave each whirlagig a little Essence and tossed it into the air. They flew all around us, sparkling in the light of the sun. I couldn't have envisioned a scene more magical. Val was watching all of the whirlagigs fly with a very satisfied smile on his face.

That was when Dean Peleps came walking right through our door. The whirlagigs scattered and hid themselves immediately... all except for the first one I'd given Essence. I grimaced, hoping Dean Peleps wouldn't catch sight of the last little whirlagig, which was hovering only a few inches from his head. He didn't seem happy to see all of Team Firewander together again – but that was nothing new. He'd never liked any of us.

"Faculty meeting tomorrow." He announced. "Everyone will attend."

Without another word to us, he slammed the door.

"That was close!" Mehmed sighed in relief.

Val looked disturbed. The whirlagigs all fluttered out of their hiding places.

"I count _four_ flying things," Kasashi whispered.

"Uh oh," Bruja grimaced.

"I'll go catch it!" Both Fox and I volunteered at the same time. Val groaned as the two of us ran out into the hall. Sure enough, the little flying contraption was still following the Dean... and he still hadn't noticed it.

"We're going to get in _so_ much trouble!" Fox grinned.

"And you wouldn't have it any other way!" I agreed with a wink.

Val's first lecture was very clean and insufferably dull. Several students near the back fell asleep and I almost nodded off myself. Dean Peleps congratulated him when it was over and even Summer Storm agreed that Val was "quite reformed" and that his years in the south must have done him some good. I couldn't shake the way the Immaculate stared at me, though I suspected his glare was only due to the fact that we'd decided that my story would be that I'd spent the last five years working as a whore. It was something that would surprise no one and everyone in Harlotry would confirm it without hesitation.

In every way, things were returned to normal except for one. Val refused to go see Tamika and Rose.

"I need to work out what I'm going to say to them. I've been gone five years," He reminded me.

"Work it out soon," I replied, trying not to twitch. "They already know you've come back and they want to see you."

Val's second lecture two days later wasn't much different than his first. I did notice a familiar face sitting in the second row beside Doctor Basha, the same man who'd asked some insightful questions at Val's first lecture. The Immaculates noticed his presence also, and from the way he very carefully phrased everything he asked, I suspected that they were watching him.

Though he attempted to remain as politically-correct as possible, I saw a bit of the old Val emerge as he theorized on the mystery of why Dragonbloods following the Usurpation had constructed great tombs and monuments to fallen Anathema.

When I saw the eyes of some of the more conservative members of the University faculty beginning to wander, I realized that Val was starting to sound controversial whether he thought he was or not. I decided that the best way of defending Val's new reputation as a reformed heretic was to prove that all of our past bad behavior had been my fault – as my friend the Emissary had suggested.

"Why don't we just ask the Lunars?" I interrupted, drawing attention to myself. I wasn't sitting in a chair – there hadn't been an empty one left in the room when I'd arrived late... and the fact that I was standing in the corner behind Val's slate only made it easier to pick out exactly who had spoken.

Val gasped in horror at my question and I saw a sudden spark of interest from the scholar in the second row. "Sapphire, I really don't think..." Val began

"No, I'm curious. Why don't we ask them? We know that some of them are more than 2,000 years old and that means they were _there_! They must know something!" I protested.

"Heretic!" An Immaculate snapped.

"It's a valid question!" I retorted.

"Well, dangerous to deal with... Anathema," Val replied stumbling over that word. I bet it was one he hadn't said in a long while. I avoided it myself.

"It's also dangerous to poke around in 1,500 year old ruins without knowing _what_ you're dealing with!" I reminded him. "Which is why all of us archaeologists carry _weapons._ Tell me, why is it that we assume that Lunars can't be reasoned with? Maybe they don't like us city dwellers but in the north the Icewalkers get along with them just fine. Down in the south too. Some of the most primitive people in Creation have Lunars giving them all kinds of information and we – the most highly respected educational institution barring the Heptagram itself - we _completely_ _ignore_ probably the most valuable source we could possibly consult when it comes to understanding all of the history buried under our own feet? It's crappy scholarship, that's what it is!"

Val sighed heavily clearly exasperated by my persistence. "If you cannot keep these _opinions_ of yours to yourself, Sapphire, will you kindly step into the hall and allow me to finish my lecture?"

Murmur from the Immaculates followed me as I left the room, though I could not help but notice that Doctor Basha's companion was watching me with a very broad grin on his face.

Gazing out over the city, I debated how I'd explain my strategy to Val. He wouldn't like that I'd said something so blatantly heretical, but I had given him the opportunity to refute me and come out looking thoroughly reformed. A few minutes before the lecture was scheduled to let out, Doctor Basha brought his new friend to meet me.

"Ah, hello, Sapphire!" The old doctor waved. I knew him fairly well – he'd treated Lily for free years ago and he'd also taken care of Fox and a few other members of my teams. Doctor Basha was more or less a quack and he didn't give the neatest stitches, but he could keep his mouth shut when it came to dealing with the authorities, and I respected him for that.

"This is my friend, Veritas," he gestured to the scholar.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Veritas replied, shaking my hand.

"Same to you," I smiled. I liked him right away. There was something about him that made him seem familiar to me, like someone I'd known forever.

He was tall and lanky with green eyes and a shock of coppery red hair. If I had to guess his age, I would have bet that he was only a few years older than I appeared to be – maybe forty? He had that lovable introverted academic thing going for him, which reminded me very much of Val. I expected that he didn't have a whole lot of experience with women. Kasashi was one of the few University fixtures without asinine misconceptions about sex – and that was largely because he'd been raised by a Dragonblooded mother who kept as many "playthings" as she could afford to maintain.

"Rather reckless of you back there. I think you upset the Professor."

He smiled as he said that. I immediately noticed his good teeth. Although he wasn't dressed like a rich man, I guessed that he was wealthy.

"Oh, I'm a completely unrepentant heretic," I replied. "This is an institution of learning and as I see it, it's my job to get people asking questions rather than just mindlessly bludgeoning each other with ignorance. The whole University will be better for it. All of Nexus will be."

"You seem confident about that," he smiled again and adjusted his collar. That was when I noticed a bracelet he wore. I seized his wrist before he could pull away.

" _Gorgeous!_ High First Age?" I asked, although I was already certain. "It must have cost you a fortune!"

"Oh no, not at all! It's just a pale imitation, really. I made it," Veritas replied.

I tested his words with a Charm. That was the truth. But it didn't satisfy me. I'd noticed something else when my fingers brushed his beautiful bracelet. I could still feel the tingling resonance that told me immediately what metal it was made of.

"Did you? Well, guess what? An archaeologist knows the difference between _gold_ and _orichalcum_!" I hissed, pulling on his wrist maybe a little more roughly than I should have.

He tore away from me with much more strength than I expected. Since I'd Exalted, I'd discovered that I was far stronger than most people and often liable to hurt someone without intending to. Even a big guy was no match for me, and someone the size of Veritas should have been unquestionably at my mercy. I realized immediately that he had to be an Exalt himself.

That was when the doors to the lecture hall opened and Val's students came pouring out.

Veritas watched me warily. "You seem to have a lot of sympathy for Anathema. Lunars at any rate. I'm curious. How do you feel about Solars?"

I wanted to hug him right away, because he'd just confessed what I'd already guessed. But there were four Immaculates staring right at the two of us.

"I'm a heretic, not an _idiot,_ " I informed Veritas. "See you boys later!" I did notice his expression as I left. He was watching me with a look in his eyes that seemed _so_ familiar! And if he had made the bracelet he wore... was he Twilight Caste? I'd never met another Solar – well, apart from the Emissary.

I expected Veritas would come back for Val's next lecture and decided to find a way to corner him then. It was not just what was going on in his head that had me curious either. I slipped into the doorway of a Professor's office and watched him leave the University grounds. He walked like a martial artist or maybe a dancer. I wondered how coordinated he was, and if he dyed his hair to make it such a brilliant coppery color. I decided not to take things too far as I mentally undressed him. For all I knew, old Doctor Basha was his lover.

That thought made me grimace. Oh, if that were true... what a waste!

As I'd expected, when I finally made it to his office, Val berated me for my questions and warned me never to embarrass him again. I decided not to mention the girls, although I'd meant to tell him that Tamika had found out that he'd returned to the University and had asked me why her father still hadn't come to see her and Rose.

I didn't catch much of Val's third lecture the following week thanks to a little mess with Team Nighthammer, but I heard from everyone who did attend that it was much more interesting than his first two lectures had been, mostly about ancient engineering marvels.

I'd planned on catching the tail end of his discussing on the Whispering Serpent, but Viper had slipped onto the University campus dressed in a student's uniform looking for trouble. She caught me before I made it upstairs to the lecture hall.

Problematically, Veritas discovered the two of us fooling around. He stumbled off looking too embarrassed for words, which was disappointing considering how much I still wanted to ask him. Although I reasoned – if the man was so repressed that he couldn't handle the sight of two women enjoying one another's company, there probably wasn't a future for us.

When Val packed up his notes and returned to his office, I informed him in no uncertain terms that I would be bringing his daughters to the University the very next day and that he'd better work out what to say to them before then.

Leaving Viper with an impressionable group of first-year students and a borrowed bottle of wine, I ran across town to tell Tamika and Rose the good news.

That was when I found out they were missing.

Despite my pleas that they stay safe under my mother's nose, like most of the young people in Harlotry, Tamika and Rose were anxious to help out "Shadowsbane" however they could. Kitten had sent them to investigate a bakery where several people had vanished on simple errands over the past few weeks – including my mother's beloved right-hand whore, Keiko.

Both Tamika and Rose were armed with good daggers and a little hand-to-hand training they'd picked up from Fox, an expert at taking advantage of people who were bigger than him. Together they were more than a match for any ordinary mugger. Few would risk the wrath of Three Pearls at any rate, but there was always a chance that some thug might be too drunk or too stupid to know whose girls he was harassing.

The girls had left about midmorning, and they had never come back. Kitten had combed the streets for any sight of them and returned to Anathema's empty handed. I sat on the porch of my mother's teahouse and considered who I should tell about the girls disappearing when they went to check out the bakery – and whether or not I should call for Team Firewander.

Then I saw Val approaching, as out of his element on the streets of Harlotry as he'd ever been, though I noticed that Old Bagsy gave him a much wider berth than she had before. Suddenly, I was the one who couldn't find words to explain.

Little Fox was snoozing on the steps behind me. I tugged on his foot to get his attention.

"Stall Val," I ordered him. "Make up a story – I don't care what. Tell him the girls went shopping. Don't let him talk to my mother. He'll lose his mind."

"What are you going to do?" He demanded.

I leapt up onto the roof of the tea house and put one finger to my lips. "I'm going to find Tamika and Rose."

"By yourself?" Fox protested. "But you don't even know what you're up against!"

"Relax!" I winked. "I'm a big damn hero aren't I? I can handle _anything!_ " I tied my shroud cloth around my head and took off running.


	21. Chapter 20 - Factory Cathedral (Loren)

**Chapter 20**

 **The Factory Cathedral**

By nightfall Amira, Roach, and I had escaped Mnemon Rai's remaining men and were heading in the direction of Nexus. Mnemon Rai certainly could have caught us himself if he'd chosen to, but he gave up pursuit surprisingly quickly. Still, I expected that we had not seen the last of him.

Some hours later, Roach declared that he would not move another step. He collapsed near a little stream and within minutes, he was snoring. Amira dipped her toes in the water, and stared out into the trees. "This looks like where we first met," she said.

I immediately thought of a place that no longer existed. I eyed Amira suspiciously. "Mm. I'm not seeing Desmond's hanging garden," I confessed, speaking in Old Realm. "Without the celestial ivy, it's not the same."

Amira punched me in the shoulder. " _You_ remember Desmond? _And_ you speak Old Realm? Oooh, I can't believe you!"

"I wanted to tell you before," I admitted. "For some time, I just wasn't sure what was real, and what I'd imagined.

"I've come back once myself. I know what it's like," she sighed. "Although I wasn't talking about meeting you in Meru!" She laughed. "I was talking about the river! You were looking at your reflection, and you thought you'd been possessed."

"Which is now _very_ embarrassing," I sighed.

"You called me some unkind things," she reminded me.

"I was afraid," I confessed. "I'd seen you in my dreams."

"Were those _good_ dreams?" She smiled slightly and snuggled close to me. Her elbow caught on one of my vambraces, and she grimaced. The armor I was wearing made an irritating barrier between us. Amira started untying one of my spauldrons, and then she began working on the buckles of my breastplate. When most of my armor was off, she began to massage my shoulders. The tension I'd been carrying melted away.

"Spectacular," I replied. "You can keep doing that forever," I told her.

Her hands started to wander, and I could feel her breath on the back of my neck. Although it was nice sitting where I was and letting Amira work her magic, I didn't want to keep my hands to myself. Amira's armor didn't cover much. It left very little to the imagination, but I wanted to see all of her.

She leaned over and gave me a quick peck on the cheek. Our eyes met. The moonlight made her tattoos flicker. Her face was flushed, and her heart was obviously pounding, but she was still trying to compose herself. Before the battle, I'd pushed her away. When the day was won, I'd kissed her. Obviously, she wasn't sure where we stood.

Amira inhaled sharply as I turned around.

She gave me a wary look. "Loren?" She asked, as if that was a question. In truth, I wasn't feeling much like myself at all... or at least, not my _present_ self. I didn't say a word. I kissed her the way that I wanted to, and she collapsed into the soft grass.

"I'm probably going to kick myself for asking this, but are you sure this is what you want?" Amira whispered.

"Damnit, Amira," I said. "Take off your clothes."

Amira took hold of the collar of my shirt, almost ripping it in half as she pulled it over my head. Her armor wasn't as cumbersome as mine had been, and it was easy to get her out of it. I threw it over my shoulder, and Amira giggled as it almost hit Roach. He snorted and rolled over.

"Shh," I warned her. "Don't wake up Roach!"

"Oh, he'd better sleep like the dead!" Amira laughed.

Fortunately, he did.

I awoke before sunrise. The moon and stars slowly faded from view as the horizon turned a pale lavender color touched with rosy gold. I expected to feel the tug of destiny, something to tell me that I'd chosen the right path, but there was no consolation there for me… just a very pretty morning sky. It was around that time that I started to feel sick.

I'd never been in real trouble before and suddenly I was a wanted fugitive! I'd always thrived in an environment built upon rules. You might laugh to think that I was the sort of child who _always_ asked before having a second cookie… but that was how I was. How would I survive with no orders to follow?

There was Amira, of course, but the more I considered how I'd come to know her, the more I began to suspect that her plans for our life together were quite different than my own. And as for Roach… if I wasn't certain that I could protect myself from my own lover, then what hope was there for him?

I considered running away, but then I scoffed at myself. Amira would find me wherever I went, and Roach would follow me into Malfeas and back as he had so many times before. There was no sense in hiding and pretending that nothing had happened. I'd singlehandedly cleaved my way through hundreds of goblins and slain a faerie queen. Thousand year old treasures from an age beyond memory came to life with my touch. And as Mnemon Rai had professed, many people seemed inclined to follow me wherever I led, as if I had a sign on my head that said "I am in charge".

I stood up slowly, retrieving Amira's armor and my own. I picked up my sword and glanced at my reflection in its lustrous golden blade. My Caste Mark was still flickering. I turned in the direction of the rising sun and took a deep breath. I would have liked some time to meditate, but I felt sure that Amira and Roach would be waking up soon. For the briefest of moments, I felt a hand resting on my shoulder, a hand I knew wasn't physically there.

Over the past ten years I had dwelt continuously on all of the things I might have done wrong. I'd become obsessed with understanding why I'd been cursed so terribly. Perhaps I was not spiritually enlightened enough to have been honored by the Dragons, but I could think of no shortcomings that put me in the same company as the mad, murderous Forsaken.

But if I was destined to _save_ the world, then perhaps I had been asking myself the wrong questions all along. If I had been Chosen to resurrect the glorious lost age that I remembered so clearly, what had I done _right_?

 _Heaven_ _help_ _me._ _I_ _don't_ _deserve_ _this._

"Deep in thought?" Amira teased. She slipped up behind me, making no more sound than a mouse. Maybe she _had_ been a mouse, scouting around to make sure that we were safe, but her shape-changing still unsettled me and so I said nothing of it.

"I can't help it," I admitted. "I have a lot on my mind."

"You're still glowing," She kissed the top of my head.

"Am I?" I laughed uneasily. "Should we move further away from the road?"

"Oh, most people wouldn't even notice," Amira replied. "You glitter in the sunlight, that's all. Like some absurd, pining lover in a pretentious bit of court poetry."

"Was that a compliment?" I wondered.

"After a fashion," Amira smirked.

"How sweet of you," I replied, in a tone that I suspected she would take offense to.

"I try my best," She leaned her head on my shoulder. Her right hand traced the stitched pattern on the leg of my breeches and I noticed for the first time that she was wearing a little orichalcum ring. I touched my own hand reflexively, but of course… there was nothing there.

"I never found it," Amira admitted, touching my palm with her fingertips. "I did look."

"It would be strange to wear someone else's wedding ring," I admitted.

"I suppose you're right," She paused. "Although sometimes when you look at me... I swear that it's him I'm seeing. And last night… _rowr_." The sound she made was definitely not a human one.

"I know, I know!" I cut her off a little more sharply than I'd intended to. "Look, Amira... three days ago I was about to get the promotion of my life! Now I'm a _target_ for the fair folk, a _traitor_ to the Realm, _dead_ to my family, a _god_ to my best friend and…"

"Playing naughty late-night games with Anathema?" Amira winked.

There was nothing I could say in response to _that_. I sighed heavily and buried my head in my hands. "Amira, please! I need to think. I can't afford to make any more mistakes."

What I meant was that running from Mnemon Rai had been a stupid thing to do, particularly since our Lunar allies would have provided us with food and shelter if we'd stayed with them. Amira obviously misunderstood me.

"What do you mean, _mistakes_?" She demanded.

The pain in her eyes reminded me of the stray dog I'd tried to befriend when I was a child. I'd spent weeks offering the poor creature scraps of food and almost convinced it to take some meat from my hand. But when my cousins saw me trying to feed it, they all started throwing rocks until they chased it off. When my father scolded them for what they had done, they claimed that they were afraid that I might get bitten. I still remembered the look the dog had given me in the moment before it ran away. It hurt so much more than I had ever hurt in my entire life.

While it may sound crude to compare an undeniably brilliant, powerful woman to a garbage-eating mutt, I had begun to wonder how much of Amira was really human, and how much was… something else. Like the dog from my childhood memory, she was looking for a little kindness in a world that had been unimaginably cruel to her… and if I started throwing rocks in her direction, I realized that I would probably never see her again. That thought cut straight to my heart. I _didn't_ trust Amira. But for some reason, I loved her anyway.

"I don't mean _you_ ," I sighed. "But it wasn't smart for us to leave Silvermane and the other Lunars! We don't have any food or supplies! I've never been a fugitive before! I don't know the first thing about being on the run."

Amira nodded. "I've gotten that impression. I'm sorry."

"And as for my former life… to be honest, I think I need some kind of closure," I admitted. "Would you tell me what happened?"

I knew it was a delicate subject I was bringing up, but it seemed like it was time for me to hear the truth. "How did..." I hesitated. I'd been about to say "Alexander", but it didn't feel right. I _was_ Alexander, and there was no use pretending otherwise. "How did I die?"

"I don't know," Amira confessed, tears welling up in her eyes. "I was alone in my room when Perfect's manse came crashing down from the sky. Dragonbloods were in the halls. Some of our servants were with them. Anyone who was defending us, they grabbed them and beat them to death. I didn't know what to do. I'd only taken Heart's Blood three times. All the Charms I knew were silly ones. I'd never had to fight for my life before. You always protected me. I was convinced that you were invincible... and so I jumped out the window and flew away."

I pulled Amira close and let her rest her head on my shoulder. She seemed so fragile. I knew that I would have told her to run if I could have.

"Four days after the Usurpation, Silvermane found me. I escaped with him into the deep Wyld. It was the only place the Dragonbloods wouldn't follow us. They couldn't survive it," she sighed. "We almost didn't. Elders I had looked up to, idolized even… they became _monsters_. We had to put them down. We killed our own out of mercy. And then, when we finally clawed our way back into Creation... there was _nothing_ left. We were stewards over a corpse! A fitting reward for our _despicable_ cowardice!"

"I don't know what to say," I replied. The words sounded helpless as I spoke them.

"Don't say anything," Amira whispered. "Just hold me."

That was when Roach woke up. He yawned and rolled over onto my foot. "Am I interrupting something?" He asked, looking up at me.

"We're fine. We should probably get moving though," I replied, glancing in the direction of the sun. Amira nodded. She squeezed my hand.

Roach slowly rose to his feet. "I wish we had some breakfast," he admitted.

"You and me both," I agreed.

"How far is it to the nearest town?" He wondered.

"Well, I'm not sure that we should go to Nexus," I admitted. "At least not until we can do something about our uniforms," I gestured to Roach and then myself.

"What about your girlfriend?" Roach demanded.

Amira was wearing her silver armor and absolutely nothing else.

"If Amira doesn't want to be seen, she won't be. She _is_ a shapeshifter," I reminded him.

"Yeah, I noticed that," Roach grinned broadly. He was staring at Amira's tail.

"Roach!" I hissed, glaring at him. "Don't! Not a word!"

He said nothing, but he still looked smug. My face must have been absolutely scarlet. I didn't even want to imagine what kind of thoughts were rolling through Roach's head. He'd teased me mercilessly when he thought that Amira was a married woman I was having an affair with. Now that he'd actually met her, I expected I would never have a moment's peace again.

"If you two are done, I have a plan," Amira declared.

"Oh? All right, let's hear it!" I replied, thankful that she had changed the subject.

Amira whistled and the wind whipped up suddenly around us. I thought a storm was approaching until I caught sight of a white cloud moving towards us at an impossible speed. A surge of Essence swirled around the strange phenomenon. As it broke through the trees, Amira leapt onto it as if it were a solid thing.

"What _is_ that?" Roach demanded.

"A Cirrus Skiff," I replied, recognizing the spell Amira had cast. "Sorcery. You've _never_ seen one?" I glanced at Roach suspiciously.

"I thought only Dragonbloods could do that," Roach admitted.

"Anything _they_ can do, _we_ can do better!" Amira replied in a sing-song voice. "All right, hop on!"

"Oh, I don't think so!" Roach protested.

"Relax!" Amira laughed. "I know exactly what I'm doing!"

"That's what worries me," Roach replied.

"Honestly! Loren, have I ever steered you wrong?" She pressed. "Besides, I bet neither of you have ever ridden on a cloud before. It's _really_ fun!"

When neither Roach nor myself responded, Amira knew she'd won. She grinned victoriously.

I slowly climbed aboard the Cirrus Skiff, knowing that Roach would follow suit. The cloud felt cold and soft but somehow solid underneath me. Out of curiosity, I gave it a bit of Essence and blinked in surprise as I realized suddenly that I could actually see the structure of the spell that moved and shaped the cloud. I could feel the energy flowing through it.

Did that mean I could work sorcery myself? It was a reasonable assumption, but I'd never considered such a thing before. Even if I had Exalted as a Fire-Aspect, I did not doubt that I would have remained a soldier. Perhaps I would have served in my father's Scarlets instead of with the Ravenous Winds, but never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined studying at the Heptagram. I always thought of sorcery as a messy and manipulative thing. I'd never considered before that it might be inherently logical, like mathematics.

It took Roach a long while to muster up the courage to climb aboard Amira's cloud. When we did finally rise up into the sky, I was so surprised I almost fell off. The sorcery Amira had worked did not sit well with me. Though I didn't think it right to critique, the entire spell felt unsteady. Despite her bravado, sorcery was clearly not Amira's forte. Not for the first time, I found myself worrying about her. I gave some more Essence to the Cirrus Skiff, wondering if Amira would notice that I was trying to help. She smirked in my direction and I began to suspect that I was being played yet again.

Roach buried his head in my cloak and looked about ready to faint.

I didn't push him away. I remained as stoic as I could, not wanting to give Amira any cause to make fun of me. A few hours later, the cloud we were riding on deposited us on the ground and then dissipated into nothingness. The scenery hadn't changed much... in fact, I rather suspected we were in a different part of the same forest.

"How was _that_ fun?" Roach coughed, obviously glad to be back on his own two feet. "I think I've still got bugs in my teeth and I feel like I've been wrapped in a carpet and beaten with a broom for the last three hours!"

"How very Southern!" Amira replied. "Oh, he's cute! Can we keep him?" She demanded, elbowing me with a mischievous wink.

I glared at Amira. She had a tendency to treat Roach as if he were a servant or a pet, just as many of my Dragonblooded relatives did. I'd always hated it when they lorded their status over me. Even if everyone did know that I was a Solar, that behavior was not something I planned on picking up.

"Where are we?" I asked. Whether I was about to admit it or not, I did feel a little like Roach myself, disoriented and out of my depth.

"Look around," Amira pointed. "See anything familiar?"

I turned slowly in the direction she indicated and stared. Half-sunken into the ground and covered in vines was a solid lump of orichalcum about eight feet square with no visible markings of any kind.

"It's a _box,_ " I observed, absolutely certain that I'd seen it before.

"This is the secret entrance of a factory cathedral which once belonged to a woman called _Perfect_ _Mechanical_ _Soul."_ Amira recited. "She was one of the craziest, _scariest_ sorceresses of the First Age, right up there with ol' Bright Shattered Ice. By the time of the Usurpation, Perfect was essentially the last Twilight you'd ever want to mess with. And I feel compelled to tell you this, but my friend Silvermane? He was her Mate. Let's just say I know things about miss "Perfect" that _no_ _one_ should!"

Roach laughed slightly. He still looked uncomfortable and I didn't blame him. I said nothing about what I remembered. The Perfect that I had known was nothing at all like Amira had described her. I would have called her obsessive, perhaps… but not _crazy_.

I knew that Solars in the First Age had formed Circles, a kind of sworn brotherhood, and that Perfect and myself had been members of the same Circle. I wondered if the "others" that Madame Marthacine had spoke of were the present incarnations of my former companions. I was sure I'd seen Perfect's work in Nexus, and ever since I'd stumbled upon her water purification machine, I'd felt certain that we would soon be reunited.

"All right. So why are we here?" I asked Amira.

"Well," Amira grinned. " _This_ box has toys inside!"

I rolled my eyes. "Toys" was Amira's way of describing artifacts of any kind. She was inordinately fond of them and always got excited when her eyes lit upon something from long ago. I remembered the golden ball that the two soldiers had brought back to the Imperial City from Chiarascuro and realized that I felt the same way myself.

"All right, I'll believe that. But I don't see any way in," Still a little uneasy, I reached to touch the smooth golden surface of the box. There was something about orichalcum that I found irresistibly attractive. It beautiful by any standards and it always felt warm to me, like a nice cup of tea or a fresh clean towel.

"Give it Essence," Amira suggested, sounding impatient.

"Why don't you do it?" I demanded.

"Because I _can't,_ numbskull! I shouldn't have to tell you this, but orichalcum only responds to Solar Essence. And Perfect never liked Lunars much. She considered us to be insufficiently sophisticated," Amira rolled her eyes.

"This thing is dangerous?" I pressed. "You think there's a trap, don't you?"

"We won't know until we open it," she replied.

"That sounds a bit reckless, don't you think?" I demanded.

"I'm with Loren on this one, lady," Roach added. "I'm all for staying out of the demon box."

"You're no fun at all!" Amira pouted. "Fine, let's start walking to Nexus!"

I sighed heavily and glanced back in the direction of the orichalcum box.

"Boss..." Roach began.

Very deliberately, I placed my hand on the smooth surface. I focused for a moment. I knew instinctively how to fuel Essence into something. I'd done it numerous times before, when Amira had thrown me my sword on the battlefield, and when I'd caught Perfect's tiny flying machine.

 _Or..._ _Resplendent_ _Whirlagig?_ Was that what it was called?

I put a mote of Essence into the box. It seemed to respond, and so I gave it more, as much as I guessed it would take. It wasn't until I saw a familiar flickering beginning around my hand that I realized how long I'd been standing where I was, staring at the thing and feeding it my Essence. I pulled away.

"What?" Amira demanded. "What's wrong?"

"I'm... flickering." I couldn't think of a better way to put it, and was a little annoyed when she laughed at me. It felt very strange to touch the mark on my brow when there was Essence bleeding from it. Such a gesture made me even more acutely aware of the fact that I carried a spark inside of me that did not originate anywhere within Creation. _Celestial_ , I suspected, was the proper word for it.

 _This_ _must_ _be_ _how gods_ _feel_ _all_ _the_ _time_. I thought to myself, but I said nothing.

Amira groaned, gesturing to the trees all around us. "So?" She demanded.

"Nothing is happening!" I protested, gesturing to the box. "This thing is probably broken!"

"Yeah, and it might explode," Roach quipped.

"You're not helping!" Amira snapped.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" I demanded. "Wave my arms in the air and say "Stupid box, I command you to open!"

There was a sudden crunching, grinding sound behind me. I didn't have to turn around to see what it was.

"That'll do," Amira smirked. Roach stared with his jaw dropped as she bounded past me and disappeared down the dark stairs. After a few minutes, Amira poked her head back out and gestured in the direction of the two of us. "Come on, slowpokes! Don't you want to see what's inside?"

Roach hesitantly followed her when he saw that I was right behind him.

The moment I stepped through the door, it closed behind us.

"I want to take this opportunity to remind the both of you that I thought this was a bad idea from the beginning," Roach announced. "So that when we all die horribly, I can at least say "I told you so."

"No one's going to die horribly!" I sighed. Roach turned slowly and stared at me as though I were a stranger. The only light on the stairs was coming from the mark on my brow, and though Roach had known what I was since before our fight with the Alabaster Duchess, he still didn't seem entirely comfortable in my presence.

"Look, the door closing is probably just some sort of automated thing. There used to be doors like this everywhere," I clarified. "I'm sure Amira knows how to fix it."

"More light, Loren," Amira ordered. I didn't see what she was poking at, but she was looking at the wall to our right.

"Can't _you_?" I demanded.

"Remember what I said about Perfect not liking Lunars much? I'd better not do _anything._ If there is a trap here, it might have been set for Silvermane. Which means it could be activated by my Essence," Amira replied, as if there was nothing particularly unusual about Perfect attempting to kill her Mate. "What _is_ your problem anyway?"

"You obviously don't understand, and I'm not going to explain," I snapped, a little more sharply than I'd intended.

"Ooh. Soft, squishy feelings hurt?" Amira poked me.

"You're horrible," I informed her, and she beamed as if she'd just been given a compliment.

Just as I'd instinctively understood how to fuel Essence into an object, I also knew that I could do other things with it myself. With little more than a moment's concentration, I could know the precise time of day, make a light bright enough to read by... or glow brilliantly enough to momentarily blind anyone standing close to me.

I hadn't tried to do such a thing before, precisely because it was so ostentatious and undeniably Solar-like, but with Amira's nose in my face, I decided to give her _exactly_ what she'd asked for.

Amira shrieked and almost fell flat onto Roach, who shielded his eyes and stumbled down a few stairs. I walked directly past them both. Even after ten years of being what I was, it still felt odd to me, descending into the darkness without a torch or lantern.

"Yikes, that's _bright!_ " Roach grimaced.

"I know! And _so_ pretty! See, I knew you could do it!" Amira chirped.

"Are you making fun of me again?" I glared at her.

"You're an easy mark," she retorted, swishing her tail at me. She grabbed me by the collar and kissed me. I almost fell down the stairs.

"She's got you whipped," Roach cackled.

"Stop it!" I warned him.

I lost count of how many flights of stairs we went down, but it took us a long time to reach the bottom. I knew without a doubt that I'd come to a place that I had visited before, and felt a little twinge of nervousness. Immediately, I muted the glow around me as much as I could.

"Little more light, Loren," Roach muttered, tripping over the last step.

"No, I'm trying to _stop_ glowing!" I argued.

"Why?" Amira demanded.

"Well, because if there's someone down here, I don't want the first words I hear from them to be "Aaah, _Anathema_!" I protested.

"What makes you think there's someone down here?" Roach wondered uneasily.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I just have a feeling."

Amira snorted. Obviously she knew something herself, but she wasn't being forthcoming with information. The three of us stood before a massive orichalcum door. Like the outer surface of the box, the door was seamless in its construction, appearing like a massive golden mirror set into white marble foundation. It had five symbols on it that I recognized immediately. The first was the same mark that was currently flickering on my own forehead. Someone looking might still see it from a certain angle, but it no longer marked me as it had before.

"I don't like this," Amira muttered.

"You're the one who brought us here," I reminded her, reaching out and touching the Dawn symbol. The door opened with a whisper.

The room we had entered was enormous and like nothing I had ever seen before, at least not in my current life. The ceiling was as high as the stairs we'd come down and the shadows above us looked like some great birds of prey, roosting undisturbed for so many centuries. I knew what they were immediately... _warbirds_ , they were called. There were tools that I didn't know the names of scattered everywhere and in the center of the room was a massive furnace, burning brilliantly and filling the air with the smell of... was that liquid orichalcum?

That was when I heard a faint "click" sound and realized that there was a weapon pointed at the back of my neck. The air was filled with sharp, alchemical smell and I recognized the distinctive crackle of a lightning spear. I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender. Amira growled, looking slightly more wolf-like than usual and Roach went for his sword.

I turned around very slowly.

There was a man standing behind me. It wasn't easy to tell how old he was in the strange forge light that filled the room, but I suspected he was somewhat older than I was, perhaps by five to ten years. His clothing was disheveled and covered in stains, his short red hair stuck out in every direction, and his eyes were hidden by a set of peculiar glasses with several different-colored lenses. The beautiful First Age lightning spear he held was certainly an intimidating-looking weapon, but it was overshadowed by the aura of gold that surrounded him, emanating from a very distinct, unmistakable mark on his brow.

He was a Solar!

" _Anathema_?" The word escaped me before I realized how bad it sounded. After so many years of serving in the Ravenous Winds, I suspected that it was going to be very difficult for me to purge such terms from my vocabulary.

The Twilight Caste pointed his weapon at Roach, who seemed about to draw his sword. "Both of you where I can see you, right now!"

 _Both_ of us? He obviously meant Roach and myself.

But where was Amira?

"Now how did you get in here without tripping my alarms? Are you working for those damned Sidereals?" He demanded, using a strange word that was definitely familiar to me. I glanced to Roach who only shrugged.

"Calm down, we don't want any trouble!" I held up my hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Yeah, we were just looking for... _treasure_ ," Roach finished awkwardly, realizing belatedly just how bad that sounded.

"Nothing I have would be useful to you, Dragonblood," the Twilight snapped, glaring at me. "Even if you did miraculously become "Enlightened" with advanced knowledge of Wyld Cauldron technology."

I was still dressed in my lamellar armor, and though I lacked good breeding, I wasn't entirely surprised at the Twilight's mistake. "Oh, I don't know. You might be surprised," I smiled slightly and illuminated my own Caste Mark.

For a moment there was something like a spark of recognition in the Twilight's eyes. "Well now... _that_ changes everything!" Without a moment's hesitation, he whirled around and shot a burst of energy from his weapon into the ground so close to my foot that I felt the heat through the leather of my boot.

"You almost shot me! Are you _insane_? What was that for?" I demanded.

"I don't like to kill people, generally speaking," the Twilight replied. "But you've just proven to me that you're _not_ a Sidereal. I've learned that they can impersonate Solars, you see, but it's exceptionally difficult for them, and they can't keep up the deception if they're startled."

"But what if I'd moved? You could have killed me!" I protested.

"Oh please! You're Dawn Caste! You're not going to go down unless I shoot you in the head, and even then I'd probably have to do it twice!" The Twilight laughed.

I did not bother to protest. I knew a few things about my own durability. He was not exaggerating.

Roach seemed ready to run, but after being shot at, I wanted some sort of explanation or at very least an apology. From the way I'd seen things in my dreams, I'd started to believe that if the Solars were all returning to Creation, they would at least treat one another with a little respect!

"Have you considered that shooting at your visitors is a very good way to convince people that you _are_ a mad demon who needs to be put down?" I scolded him.

The Twilight hesitated. He looked a little unsettled for a moment, the expression on his face immediately reminded me of what my Aunt Garel used to call "someone walking over his grave."

That was when I caught sight of Amira. Only her yellow eyes were visible in the light of the furnace. She was in her largest wolf form, bigger than a horse at the shoulder with a thick mane of moonsilver spines covering her shoulders and back. Her tattoos glowed, making her look exactly like what I had once believed that all Lunars were... what Amira had admitted that she feared she was becoming.

 _A_ _monster._

The Twilight dropped his lightning spear and cursed incoherently as Amira flicked her tail across his shoulder, giving away her location. He almost fell over when he did see her, grinning toothily at him.

"You shot at my Mate. I should rip your head off your shoulders," she whispered, the tone of her voice making it very obvious that she would be willing to carry through with her threat.

" _Your_ Lunar?" The Twilight glanced nervously over his shoulder in my direction.

Amira chuckled.

"All right, who are you? What do you want with me?" The Twilight demanded, not sounding nearly as sure of himself as he had before.

"My name is Cathak Loren," I replied automatically, before I realized that I probably should have used an alias.

I definitely noticed the Twilight's reaction to my name. He'd heard of me before?

"I'm Roach," Roach added, jerking his thumb in my direction. "I'm with him."

"They call me Heartsblood," Amira growled. The Twilight paled. Of course, he was pale already, probably from spending so much time in his cavern of a workshop, but his skin lost the little color that it had possessed prior to that moment. Amira held her teeth bared only a few inches away from his neck until he was obviously sweating. For a few minutes I wasn't entirely sure what she planned to do with him myself. Even though he'd already shot at me, I felt that letting Amira kill the first Solar I'd ever met was probably a bad way to start my new life.

"Boo!" Amira shouted.

The Twilight jumped a foot in the air, and Amira began giggling uncontrollably. Somewhere in the middle of her fit, she changed back to her human self, still rolling on the floor like a hyperactive child who'd just consumed enough sugar to bake a dozen cakes.

I sighed in defeat, knowing I should have expected as much. Amira could sometimes be vicious, but she had a mischievous streak a mile wide.

"You started this!" I informed him. "I certainly had no intention of making trouble for you, and you attacked me before I had the opportunity to tell you why we came to this place!"

"Save it. I already know why you're here!" He snorted. "Sidereals, Lunars, Dragonbloods... it's always the same story! Why go through the trouble of _making_ something when you can steal it instead? Go ahead, take whatever you want!" The Twilight dismissed us.

"I told you already, we're _not_ here to rob you. What's your name?" I asked.

"I don't see how that matters," He retorted.

"Well, what I _want_ is information!" I paused. "Where are you from? How long have you been a Solar? Do you remember things about the First Age?" Questions simply poured out of me. If it wasn't for Roach's blank stare, I probably wouldn't have stopped talking until I was blue in the face.

"You're certainly nosy," The Twilight snorted. He seemed to have relaxed somewhat, but he still evaluated me with a suspicious glare.

"I can't help it. This is all new to me," I admitted.

"Ah," the Twilight observed. "Just Exalted, eh?"

"Oh yes, _ten_ _years_ _ago!_ " Amira rolled her eyes.

"What?" The Twilight blinked in disbelief. "Ten years? You've been Exalted for _ten_ _years_ and they haven't caught you yet?"

"You mean… the Wyld Hunt?"

"The Wyld Hunt? Oh, if it were just the Ravenous Winds or the Scarlets, things would be _easy_!" He threw his hands up in the air. "But no… I'm talking about the gods-damned Bureau of Destiny!"

"The Bureau of _what_?" Roach asked.

The Twilight sighed heavily. "Sit down. You're going to want to sit down for this."

I did as he recommended. Amira and Roach stood behind me. Neither of them looked impressed, but I gathered that was because Roach had absolutely no idea what was going on and Amira already knew exactly how things would turn out.

I could not take my eyes off of the Twilight. The longer he ranted, the more certain I became that I had known him in my previous life. "I don't know if you've heard this already or not, but we Solar Exalted are the rightful rulers of Creation. It was given to us by the Gods, which is why you will find in all of the oldest texts that Solars are referred to as "Lawgivers". It's why our government was called t _he_ _Deliberative_. The Dragonblooded were bred to be our soldiers, to fight in our armies against the enemies of Creation. But they rose up against us and destroyed everything that we had built."

"Why?" I wondered, an uneasy sort of feeling in my stomach as he spoke those words.

"Oh, all the usual reasons! We were corrupt, they were oppressed!" The Twilight continued. "It's irrelevant. What is important is that with the help of certain ambitious Sidereals, the Dragonblooded conspired to kill us all and hold our Essence in something they called the Jade Prison. This is why, for many hundreds of years there _were_ no Solars. But about fifty years ago, the prison was discovered to be cracked. The Sidereals themselves don't know when it happened or who did it. Not that it matters. The point is, our souls were freed to return to the cycle of reincarnation and now we're all coming back. And while most of the other Solars that I've met so far still think that the Realm is our biggest threat, that's only because they've no idea how dangerous the Bureau of Destiny can be. The Sidereals are watching us constantly."

"How can you tell if you're being watched?" I asked. I didn't like what he was proposing at all, but it felt true to me.

"Well, it's _almost_ impossible," the Twilight replied. "Sidereals can look like anyone, you see. They might be some insignificant person following you all day, trying to sell you trash or trinkets. The bartender at your favorite tavern. Your lover. Your lackey." He gestured to Roach. "The only way to be safe is not to trust _anyone._ Or, if you happen to be in the possession of a Ninefold Harmonic Essence Tracker... you can submit them to a very invasive, sophisticated scan. They really _hate_ that," he added, as if he were an authority on the subject.

"Wow. You're paranoid," Roach observed.

"Feh," the Twilight snorted. "Paranoia is the fear of the unknown. I am quite knowledgable and rationally prepared. There's a difference." He paused for a moment, studying me. "So I take it that you've... _resigned_ from the Ravenous Winds?" The Twilight folded his hands under his chin in a distinctly condescending fashion.

"I didn't have a choice," I said.

"You didn't have a choice?" He echoed incredulously.

"The fae had to be stopped. But Mnemon Rai is not my enemy. I don't hate the Realm."

"Fair enough," the Twilight paused. "I don't have any real problems with the Immaculate Order myself, except of course that they're wrong about everything."

"Were _you_ a monk?" I asked.

He didn't answer me, but the expression on his face led me to believe that the answer to my question was "yes".

"Well, I _was_ a soldier. But that doesn't matter now. When Mnemon Rai gets back to Nexus, there will be a full-fledged Wyld Hunt. And I doubt we've seen the last of those fae either."

The Twilight raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"He killed the Alabaster Duchess yesterday," Amira replied. "The Red Queen watched the whole thing."

"Damn. Although now I'm curious. According to my friends, the Alabaster Duchess has been terrorizing this forest for centuries. How did you kill her?" The Twilight pressed, seeming to recognize that name.

"I taunted her until she charged me, and then ran her through. Nothing especially creative," I confessed, reaching for my daiklave. It was still wrapped in canvas and must have looked a little silly strapped to my back, but I felt a lot safer having it close.

"Hm. An artifact?" The Twilight observed. "It must be, or you wouldn't bother hiding it. May I?

I set the blade before me and slowly unwrapped it. In the red light of the plasma furnace, the orichalcum glittered even more brilliantly than it had in the sun. The Twilight immediately took a step back. He cursed aloud in Old Realm, using a word I didn't remember the meaning of.

"Faeslayer?" He whispered.

I nodded.

The Twilight's demeanor changed. He immediately brought me a chair. In fairness, what he actually did was snap his fingers and command a chair to move in Old Realm. It came trotting up behind me, and I slowly sat with some trepidation. He was obviously a sorcerer _._ That didn't particularly surprise me, but the ease and grace with which he worked Essence certainly caught my attention. I wondered how long he had been Exalted himself.

 _"_ Is Alexander here _?_ " A familiar voice wondered. It sounded like a young woman and I wondered for a moment if the Twilight had an assistant or a lover hiding somewhere nearby.

"Come out, Godchaser," the Twilight sighed.

From behind the plasma furnace a white cloak emerged, a limbless phantom with tendrils of moonsilver and orichalcum, and an ivory mask for a face. It took me a moment to realize that I was looking... not a person, but an extremely sophisticated construct, of the kind that had been rare even in the glory days of the Deliberative. Roach nearly went for his sword, and Amira blinked in disbelief.

"Oh Luna's blessed tits! Godchaser?" She exclaimed. "You're _still_ running?"

"Ugh. I thought I smelled wet dog!" The construct snorted, sounding extremely put-off.

"So we do know her?" The Twilight asked his unusual companion.

"Unfortunately," the construct replied. "She's Alexander's Mate."

Amira wrapped her arms around me in a possessive manner. Her ears were pinned back, and the hair on her tail was standing straight up. She growled slightly and curled up her lip, and expression that would have suited her better if she'd still been a wolf.

"My apologies. Godchaser can be rude, but I do depend on her. I don't have many memories of my past life. Most of what I know has come from these old books," the Twilight gestured up, and I stared in disbelief at the impossible size of the library which loomed over our heads. My eye caught a box of parts labeled "Water Purification Machine" and I realized belatedly who I was speaking to.

" _Perfect_?" I blinked in surprise. "You are Perfect, aren't you?"

The Twilight did bear an uncanny resemblance to his predecessor. His hair was the same color of coppery red, and his nose was just as sharply pointed.

The Twilight smiled.

"I thought Perfect was woman?" Roach eyed the Twilight suspiciously.

"Do you have any idea what a Solar _is_?" The Twilight demanded.

Roach shrugged.

"We're divine souls. Essentially, gods in mortal bodies. When we die, we reincarnate. Well, everyone reincarnates, but we do it in a very _literal_ fashion. As Exalts, we inherit the knowledge and the skills of our predecessors. So yes, Perfect was a woman, and yes, I am Perfect," Veritas sighed. "Sometimes I dearly wish I could go back to that life."

Roach snickered. "You'd rather be a woman?"

"Are you an imbecile? We're hunted! Everyone thinks we're demons! Do you realize that we _bred_ the Dragonblooded? Like livestock! They were meant to be _slaves_ and _cannon_ _fodder_!" The Twilight threw his hands in the air. "It's an absolute travesty what's been done to us! Our whole world has been destroyed!"

Roach grimaced and took a step back. Evidently he realized that he'd touched on a nerve.

"What's he talking about, Boss?" He asked.

"Something that happened a very long time ago," I admitted.

"So you remember it?" Roach wondered uneasily.

I nodded.

"You _remember_?" The Twilight asked eagerly. "You remember the First Age?"

"Yes. And I also remember the War," I replied. I didn't have to say which war. To those who had survived it, there had only ever been one.

"I'm not sure if I should be jealous... or if I should feel very sorry for you," the Twilight admitted.

"My Maker has had a very difficult day-week-month-year-day," the construct quipped, hovering over The Twilight's shoulder. She looked down at him with an expression of concern.

"That's an interesting measure of time," Roach observed.

"It's all thanks to those Sidereals!" The Twilight snorted. "I'm beginning to understand why Silvermane thinks _they_ should have been put in the Jade Prison instead of _us_!"

"You ought to set them on fire next time!" The construct chimed in, obviously trying to be supportive.

"Oh, _I_ _will_!" He replied with an expression I knew too well.

"Watch who you bite, _Recluse_ ," I replied, speaking in Old Realm. It seemed appropriate to call the Twilight by his predecessor's infamous nickname. As the Dawn Caste were commonly called "Bronze Tigers" for their battle prowess, the Twilight Caste bore the sobriquet "Copper Spiders" for their artistry and industriousness. Perfect herself had been a very particular kind of arachnid, a solitary and extremely venomous one.

My Circlemate grinned very broadly. "Nonsense! I've been _provoked!_ " He informed me.

"Oh dear," Amira observed. "Here we go again..."

"So how do you actually know this guy, Boss?" Roach demanded.

Recluse ignored him as if he were not even in the room, let alone sitting between the two of us. "I can picture what you used to look like," I admitted. "Apart from the physical, I don't think you've changed very much at all."

"Nor have you," Recluse nodded, smiling just slightly. "So tell me, Faeslayer… do you remember hearing about something called a protoscemaic vortex?"

"A _what?_ " I blinked at him in confusion.

"Hm. That was… a rather personal project of mine," he observed. "Have you heard the name Himitsu before? He might have appeared near the end."

"If it's the Usurpation you're interested in, you should be bartering with me," Amira interrupted us.

"Maybe so. But as I see it, you're one of two things… either the real Heartsblood _or_ a Sidereal powerful enough to pose as a Lunar. In either case, I don't trust you. At _all,"_ Recluse snapped. "If you _are_ Heartsblood, you were only fifty years old at the time of the Usurpation! You were a _child_ , a non-entity! You only escaped because _you_ _weren't_ _a_ _threat._ " He gestured to me, and then to himself. "Our names were on the top of the killing list."

I was a little shocked to hear such a thing. In all my dreams of the First Age, I'd never gotten the impression that anyone should have wanted me dead. "Recluse, that's _enough_! There's a lot that I don't remember and _you've_ already admitted that _you_ know less than I do! So let's put this all behind us for right now and focus on the problem at hand!"

"Which is?" Recluse pressed.

"We have two armies chasing after us, and we need to make it to Nexus before they do," Amira explained. "And while I _could_ exhaust myself expending all of my Essence to take us there with sorcery, I would prefer to be in fighting condition when we arrive. If you can get us to Nexus ahead of Mnemon Rai, you can pick Loren's brain as much as you want and I won't butt in. You can also ask me _anything_ and I swear I won't use a single Charm against you."

"Well, I _could_ get you to Nexus in less than an hour, but that would mean taking one of the warbirds. And neither of them are ready to fly!" Recluse protested.

"You haven't fixed one yet?" Amira demanded with her hands on her hips. "Are you _sure_ you're Perfect?"

"I haven't been down here very long. Only a few weeks if you want the truth," Recluse paused. "Though with the way F _ate_ has been all mangled around me by those meddling Sidereals, it's beginning to feel like much longer than that." He sighed in defeat and gestured to a warbird a little below the others. Its exterior was well-polished and more than a few tools were resting on the rigging just below its berth. "I suppose we can take that one."

Roach looked skeptical. "It's an airship? Do you know how to fly it?"

"Well, I haven't done it in a long time, but I'm sure it's like riding a bike," Amira admitted.

"What's a _bike_?" Roach frowned.

"Godchaser?" Recluse turned to his construct.

"Yes, Maker?" The construct quipped.

"If any Sidereals should be poking around, you have my permission to paradox them!" He informed it. "All the way back to Yu-Shan if necessary!"

"Will do, Maker!" The construct agreed. Humming cheerfully, it hovered off.

"All right," Recluse sighed. "We should be safe for the time being, and I'll get you to Nexus well before Mnemon Rai. But first, I want to hear your story."

Not sure of where to begin, I told Recluse about my brother's death and how I'd Exalted, explaining how my first few dreams had led me to Amira. When I got to the dreams of the Usurpation that I'd had while training myself at my father's hunting lodge, he seemed particularly interested.

"I had to find something more challenging. It wasn't _enough_ , just reading about things! I needed to be _doing_ something. Nobody would play Gateway with me after I beat Ledaal Kes," I explained.

"Hm. You should take up sorcery," Recluse remarked.

"I don't think so," I shook my head, though I immediately thought of Amira's shoddy Cirrus Skiff. "I already have a difficult time keeping my focus on the present."

"Feh! If you're a good Gateway player, then you've got an eye for patterns. And if you're the military strategist that I _know_ you are, you can think quickly on your feet!" He laughed.

"What does that have to do with sorcery?" I demanded.

" _Everything_. The Dragonblooded don't understand it. They _never_ have!" Recluse rolled his eyes. "Sorcery isn't supposed to be convoluted and messy! It's more... _mathematics_."

I blinked in surprise. That had been my thought exactly!

"Spoken like a Devonian," Amira gave a wry smile.

"Guilty as charged," Recluse smirked.

It occurred to me that there was a reason why Perfect and Alexander had often called each other by the nicknames "Recluse" and "Faeslayer". They, _we_ … had been members of a certain exclusive club. The term _Devonian_ fixed itself in my mind. I immediately associated it with myself, as easily as I might have claimed the name "Cathak". But what did _I_ remember about sorcery? Less than nothing!

"Sorcery is _ruthless_ , Faeslayer. Those Emerald Circle Spells you've probably seen your Mate playing with are _nothing_ compared to what you and I were once capable of," Recluse paused. "The first spell I ever cast was every bit as terrifying as it was liberating. Now, well... I'm beginning to understand why there are three Circles of Sorcery." He paused. "Emerald Circle Spells are like the first forms you learn when you're studying a martial art. They're good for building your foundations, and they're excellent for practice… but after a while _they're_ _just_ _not_ _hard_ _enough_."

"I understand," I nodded, absorbing that little bit of information. I had never thought to associate sorcery with martial arts, and when I did think of it that way, I found that the concept itself no longer made me feel sick as it once had. "I spent years training at Paisap's Stair. I studied Water Dragon and Tiger and bits of anything else someone would teach me. I made two of the Dragonblooded in one of my lessons look like idiot children without even thinking about the consequences."

"Heh. I studied Snake myself. You know, I'm beginning to think that I was wrong about you," Recluse admitted. "You're not quite the ham-fisted sword bunny I expected you would be."

"Is that some kind of backwards complement?" I frowned.

"Take it for what it is. An invitation for you to come back and talk some more. I'll even open the front door for you. The warbird's ready to fly. I had her charged up in case those Sidereals came back. Nosy bastards. They want to know what I'm working on."

"And what are you working on, Recluse?" I pressed.

He gave another wry smile. "Wouldn't _you_ like to know? I am sorry that I shot at you earlier. It's just been a very difficult..." He hesitated. "Day." He decided on that measure of time. "And as I believe I've already explained, I simply don't trust _anyone_. Can't be too careful with all of the Sidereals around here." He still did not bother to explain what Sidereals were and I decided not to admit that I didn't know.

Amira shoved Roach through the hatch of the warbird. She put both of her hands on the hearthstone in the console and the airship roared to life, shaking the whole laboratory. I hopped into the seat closest to Amira. Recluse watched us with a look of grim satisfaction on his face, as if he would not admit that it greatly pleased him to see one of his machines taking to the sky.

"Recluse! What's your _name_? Your _actual_ name, in the _present_?" I shouted down.

He smiled slightly. "Well, I don't suspect that you'll be using my _name_ , Faeslayer," Recluse replied. "But your friends can call me Veritas."

Veritas glanced around his manse, seized a bag off of the nearest table and then effortless leapt up to join the three of us inside of the warbird. He pushed Amira out of the pilot's seat and she pouted.

"Wait for me, Maker!" His construct, which apparently had not flown very far away came zooming after him with an incoherent, gleeful squeak. It hovered over his shoulder and watched me with a mischievous grin that made me very nervous.

I can't describe the feeling that came over me as we rose into the sky. Flying in the warbird was far more satisfying than being dragged aboard Amira's awkward Cirrus Skiff. When Veritas finally agreed to give the airship a proper test, even Roach threw his hands in the air and cheered. I remained somewhat more composed, but I did smile the entire time despite myself. Perhaps it was the sheer impossibility of such flight that made me feel so liberated, or perhaps it was only the warmth that I felt with Amira resting her head on my shoulder, and Veritas sitting across from me glowing only faintly, his caste mark mirroring the design of the ostentatious hearthstone circlet that he wore. As with Amira, I'd only just met him and I already felt certain that we would be friends. Tempting as it was to give into such comforts, I was also worried.

I'd learned more than a few things from my dreams about the way Creation had once been, and the longer that I spent surrounded by people who genuinely believed that Solars weren't monsters, the easier it became for me to forget the one thing that I knew to be true. It had taken me a long while to accept that being Anathema did not make me inherently evil – and not only because I'd believed in the teachings of the Immaculates since childhood. I remembered the First Age as I'd lived it, both the good and the bad. With great power came great consequences, and if someone with the gifts that we possessed did not tread lightly...

I watched Veritas. The way his hands gracefully and swiftly moved across the console of his warbird made him look very much like his predecessor. Of course, when Perfect Mechanical Soul had worked with such focus centuries ago, she hadn't been attempting to pilot a little airship.

She'd been preparing to tear Creation in half.


	22. Chapter 21 - Lying Low (Loren)

**Chapter** **21**

 **Lying** **Low**

It was early evening when we reached Nexus. We landed on a little hill not far from the road and before anyone could catch sight of our unusual mode of transportation, Veritas grudgingly agreed to let Amira cast a spell on his warbird. He watched her preparations critically, and I did not doubt that he would soon work the same sorcery she'd used so flippantly with greater precision and care.

Veritas grumbled about not remembering all of the spells he "needed" and almost marched right for the gates of Nexus until Roach reminded him that he should probably take off his ostentatious hearthstone circlet. He grudgingly tucked it into an invisible pocket sewn onto his construct, which he'd donned in the form of a cloak.

"Godchaser" giggled. It was somewhat unsettling to see how easily the construct which had been talking and hovering around during our entire flight assumed the role of an inanimate article of clothing. No one who saw Veritas would have suspected that he was wearing an ancient, living artifact. Nor would they guess that his lightning spear, which he treated like a walking stick, packed enough punch to level a small building.

Amira casually twirled her "stupid stick" and smirked. She was even more painfully obvious than Veritas was, still dressed in her silver armor.

"So what do we do now?" Veritas asked. "There are dozens of Immaculates on the road down there. It looks like they're searching everyone before they enter the city."

"Any ideas?" Amira nudged me.

"I'm _thinking,_ " I said.

"Heh," Roach smirked. "Wait here! I'll be right back!"

"What is he doing?" Veritas wondered, watching Roach as he ran off.

"How should I know?" I shrugged. "I can't even see him."

Amira squinted. "It looks like's talking to someone waiting in line. A Murqai."

"Perfect," I smiled slightly. Veritas raised an eyebrow in my direction.

Roach came galloping back.

"All right, we're in!" He exclaimed breathlessly.

Amira raised an eyebrow in his direction. "How?"

"My cousins are going to help us," he replied.

Since he'd discovered my secret, Roach had been forthcoming with some information himself – namely, that he'd never really "converted" to the teachings of the Immaculates as everyone in the Imperial Army was supposed to. He'd held fast to his mother's faith and called himself "a believer", which meant that he was a follower of the Unconquered Sun. Though I no longer believed that I was one of the damned, I didn't share Roach's unshakable convictions. I wondered, and not for the first time, over my own relationship with the god who had Chosen me. In my past life as Alexander, I sensed that there had been very little distance between us… and now there seemed to be far too much.

"Are you sure we can trust them?" Veritas pressed.

"Absolutely. If there's one thing my people _hate_ , it's the Immaculate Order. So I give my cousins the opportunity to compose a bragging song about sneaking a _Solar_ through the gates of Nexus right under the noses of a dozen monks… " Roach grinned.

"You _told_ _them_?" I sputtered.

"Oh, well-played!" Veritas exclaimed.

Roach bowed dramatically. Three men on horseback and a Murqai wagon turned off of the main road and began climbing back up the hill towards us. When the old warrior in the lead saw Roach, he reined his horse and dismounted, rattling off something in Murqai. Though I knew a bit of the language myself, I couldn't translate what he had said.

Roach thanked him, and the old warrior said something about not wanting to wait in line.

The young Murqai woman who was driving the wagon watched Veritas, Amira, and myself suspiciously.

"Our cousin tells us that one of you is Illuminated," the old warrior announced, speaking in heavily accented Rivertongue. His eyes drifted from Veritas to Amira, and finally came to rest on me. "If that is so, we will gladly aid you in the name of _Shamas Majeed_."

"You will forgive us, of course, if we hesitate to believe such a claim. There are many who would call on us like the Storm Mothers call fishermen to crash their ships on rocks, and then condemn us for what they call heresy," one of the younger men added.

"We understand," Veritas nodded. "And we're not trying to deceive you. We _do_ need your help." He met the gaze of the old warrior. "My name is Veritas Ilumio," he flared his Caste Mark. "Chosen of the Unconquered Sun. Exalted of the Twilight Caste."

The Murqai all bowed and offered up a colorful variety of praise in their native tongue. I slowly turned to Roach, who only smiled and bowed dramatically himself. Staring at Veritas, I had to admit that I was impressed. He introduced himself very gracefully and said the words "Twilight Caste" as easily as a Dynast might have said "Prince of the Earth".

I doubted I would ever be comfortable hearing little Gods address me as "Lord of Creation" and could not imagine introducing myself as Veritas just had. A few days ago, I'd barely been able to say the word "Solar".

"It is an honor to be of service to you, Sun-Chosen," the old warrior replied. "I am called Salakhin, of the Alhaman Murqai. These are my nephews, Amal and Fariq. And my daughter, Hafizah."

"We are pleased to meet you, and glad of your help," I replied in Murqai, for the sake of saying something.

Salakhin's eyes widened in shock. I'd thought it would be extremely difficult for me to upstage Veritas, especially since he'd just revealed himself to be a Solar, but apparently, I'd done exactly that.

"Cathak Loren?" He exclaimed.

"How do you know my name?" I demanded.

"The monks are looking for a famous mortal Talonlord, formerly of the Ravenous Winds. He is not a young man, although his face does not show his age. In manner he may be mistaken for a Prince of the Earth, a Fire-Aspect... but his hair is pale yellow, and his eyes are blue. He is tall, and he carries himself with great authority. He is also polite and calm, but he very rarely smiles and his voice is difficult to ignore. His strength is most impressive. He often leaps to the defense of others, and he may be fighting with a broken sword. This, my friend, is how you are described," Salakhin explained.

"Well," Veritas paused. "That is _very_ thorough, isn't it?"  
"Did they say anything about me?" Roach wondered.

"Only that Cathak Loren might accompanied by an unwashed Murqai _heretic_ ," the old warrior smirked. "Or a beautiful tattooed _harlot_."

Roach glanced at Amira, who fanned herself dramatically. Shameless as she was, she didn't object to being called a whore.

"I have no love for the Realm," Salakhin admitted, turning back to me. "But I have heard your praises sung by many. It pleases me to see that you are now serving a worthy master."

Veritas smirked. The expression on his face was so smug that it I couldn't tolerate it.

" _You_ are _not_ my master!" I hissed.

"Of course I am!" Veritas jabbed me in the ribs with his bony elbow, and I composed myself.

The fact that a complete stranger recognized me on sight was a little worrying. More worrying still was the fact that the Murqai hadn't said anything about me being "Illuminated".

In the two days that had passed since our battle with the fae, Mnemon Rai had clearly sent a message ahead of his legion. He had obviously neglected to mention that I was a Solar. There could only be one reason for that. My old commander wanted me captured, but not killed.

While I would have liked to believe that he was offering me a truce, it seemed more likely that he was setting some kind of trap. It didn't matter. I wasn't going to turn myself in, and as soon as the Winds made it back to Nexus, everyone in Creation would know what had really happened.

"So how are we getting into the city?" I asked.

"We Murqai will all go together," Salakhin replied, gesturing to Roach. "The rest of you will go separately, and meet us in the Brood Market. When the Immaculates make trouble like this, many merchants become restless. They know they will not sell all of their wares before sundown, and so they seek to earn what coin they can," Salakhin explained. "A merchant will tighten his belt twice if he seeks to "hire". A wanted thief becomes a harmless apprentice. A hated heretic, a rich man's wife."

I'd never heard of such a thing, but Veritas did not seem surprised.

"A merchant from Gem was ahead of us in line. He has been tightening his belt for hours. I do not think he can breathe any longer," Salakhin's daughter added.

Veritas smiled slightly. "What does he sell?"

"Silk kimonos," Salakhin replied.

"Well, I'm too old to pass for an apprentice, but I suppose I could be his partner," Veritas admitted. "I do speak Flametongue."

"Ah, fortuitous! This is indeed the will of Heaven!" Salakhin laughed.

"Boo, no fun! I wanted to be the rich man's wife!" Amira grinned.

"Ugh, why don't you just go as a _dog?_ "

It was Godchaser, the construct, who had spoken. The machine had looked like an ordinary heavy cloak until that moment. An ivory mask popped up over Veritas' head.

"Godchaser does have a point," Veritas smiled slightly, glancing up at his creation.

"Fine, I'll go as a dog!" Amira sighed in defeat.

"What _is_ that?" Salakhin wondered. The Murqai all stared in disbelief.

"I'm Godchaser," the construct replied cheerfully, peeking her head out of her master's cloak. "I'm an AI. I track Essence, and collect data for my Maker. Sometimes I also fly. And when my Maker finishes fixing me, I'll be able to teleport again. You don't even know what that word means, do you?"

"I don't know what that word means," Roach added.

"A _living_ _machine_?" Salakhin whispered in awe.

" _All of the wonders of the world will not compare_ ," Roach recited. I wasn't sure what book he was referencing, but he'd obviously committed it to memory. He was constantly quoting it, as if everything that happened to us _proved_ that the Murqai were right about everything. It was an obnoxious new habit, and I would have told him to stop if the Murqai weren't all grinning like madmen.

"Ah, well said, cousin!" Salakhin nodded.

That was when I realized that there was one major flaw in Roach's plan.

Veritas was not the only one of us carrying a First Age artifact. Realistically, I knew I should have left my daiklave back in the warbird, but I felt naked without a weapon on hand. I didn't have another sword, and as I'd discovered many times, nothing less than orichalcum would hold up to my strength. More importantly, my daiklave had been a gift from the Unconquered Sun, the one tangible thing that I possessed that reminded me, every time I drew it, that was Chosen and not damned. I _needed_ it.

I sighed heavily. "Right. So how do we hide _this_?"

I drew my daiklave. The weight of the orichalcum made a fairly significant 'thunk' sound as it hit the ground. The sheet came away slightly and light struck the blood red hearthstone on the guard. I could feel the Essence radiating out from it, as warm and brilliant as the morning sun.

"Sword of Heaven?" Salakin gasped.

I knew the sobriquet, of course. Salakhin had already guessed my Caste.

The Murqai all bowed, and I immediately wished that I hadn't drawn attention to myself. "Forgive us, we did not know. But this does explain a number of things," Salakhin admitted.

"I'm not upset. I don't _need_ to be recognized," I sighed. "Actually, I'd prefer not to be."

Salakhin's daughter whispered something in his ear. He hesitated.

"There is something that I must ask, if I may," he said.

It was useless to tell him to drop the formality.

"Ask," I sighed. I expected he wanted to know if I was the Faeslayer.

"May we dress you as a woman?"

"What?" I gasped.

Salakhin drew back slightly, as if he was afraid he'd offended me.

Veritas laughed. Roach glanced at Amira, and then at me. He started to smile.

"No!" I said, not that my protests would have any effect. Amira had already made up her mind.

"Okay Loren! Off with the armor!" Amira grabbed me by my gorget.

"Hey! I might need that!" I protested as the leather strap snapped in two.

"You won't! I'll make you something better!" She informed me.

"Fine! But don't just _destroy_ it!" I sighed, unfastening my spauldrons. Though I knew that I couldn't very well walk through the gates of Nexus wearing my lamellar, I was little annoyed that Amira intended to throw it away. "And what about my daiklave?" I demanded. "Recluse… where did you put your lightning spear?"

"What lightning spear?" Veritas smirked, holding up his hands to show that they were empty.

"He tosses it in Elsewhere," Amira observed. "Must have learned that trick from a Lunar."

"Elsewhere?" Roach wondered.

"It's a space that exists just outside of our own, a mutable plane of magical energies. Most people don't even know it exists, but Celestial Exalts can access it," Veritas explained. "Any artifact that we have attuned to our Essence… we can call it to ourselves. In the simplest sense, it's like this."

With a deft flick of his wrist, Veritas snatched one of his Resplendent Whirlagigs from Roach, who was showing the device to the leader of the Murqai. I could only guess that he'd pocketed it when we'd left Veritas's manse.

"No! No playing with things you _don't_ understand!" Veritas informed Roach. With another graceful gesture, he tossed the little orichalcum ball into the air – and it promptly vanished.

Roach grinned. The Murqai seemed impressed.

"Now, Faeslayer... do as I do," Veritas paused and made the first gesture of the Charm so that I could watch and copy him.

Drawing myself away from the Winds had been a challenge. Only two days ago, I'd decided that I was too strong to continue pretending to be an ordinary soldier. When I'd cleaved the Alabaster Duchess in two, the Fae had fled in terror. Convinced that I was dangerous, I'd never stopped to consider just how much I didn't know. Not all of my memories of the First Age translated themselves into combat skills that I could instinctively duplicate. Sitting with Veritas and attempting to work a Charm that I knew should have been easy was painfully awkward.

The Murqai watched us. I noticed that they grinned a little bit too broadly when Veritas hit me with the back of his hand and informed me bluntly that I _could_ use the Charm he was teaching me without "being obvious". To my horror, I realized that my Caste Mark was flaring, and I was surrounded by a faint corona of golden light.

"Focus!" Veritas scolded me.

I concentrated on my sword, doing as I had been instructed. The Charm was simple and I could duplicate it. I _knew_ that I could. And then suddenly... it worked. My daiklave disappeared from view, but I could still sense its presence nearby. All I needed to do was reach for it, expending the smallest amount of Essence – and it would be back in my hands.

"Good work. Now call the blade back!" Veritas instructed.

"Not now, someone's coming!" Roach hissed.

"Quick, in!" Amira seized me by the arm, tossing me into the Murqai's wagon. Digging furiously, she discovered a silky pink kimono and tossed it in my face.

"No!" I protested, knowing precisely what she intended.

When I refused to dress myself, Amira stripped me down to my skin.

I could hear the Murqai in conversation not far away, but they were speaking in their own language again so I couldn't sort out exactly what was being said. Salakhin and Roach seemed to be doing most of the talking, and whoever they were with seemed to think that Roach was hysterical. After a few minutes, I heard the sound of horses trotting away. I guessed that a few more Murqai had arrived to see what their cousins were up to and sighed in relief.

That had been a close call!

I winced as Amira ruthlessly seized my belt. "Amira!" I hissed. "Take it easy!"

"I'm very good at getting silly boys out of their armor, and you're an easier victim than most!" Amira informed me, tearing off my pants. She had no trouble dressing me either. I was too mortified to resist. After wrapping a silly flowered scarf around my head several times, Amira reached into Elsewhere. She slathered rouge on her own lips and kissed me.

"You are an _evil_ woman!" I informed her.

Amira sighed. "Those Immaculates at the gate are going to be looking for you, Loren! Anyone walking through that gate in House Cathak lamellar might as well have a _target_ on his head."

"He does have a target on his head," Roach chimed in. He pulled aside the wooden window shutter and grinned very broadly as he saw what Amira had done to me. "You all have targets on your heads!" He added.

"Roach!" I protested.

"No, he's right. I'm getting quite used to that feeling, honestly," Veritas sighed. "Are you decent, Faeslayer?"

"Yup, all done! Out you go!" Amira shoved me forward.

"I _can't_! I look ridiculous!" I protested, tripping over the hem of the kimono. As I fell out of the wagon, I grabbed hold of the closest thing he could lay my hands on, which happened to be Veritas's sleeve.

Veritas stared at me for a moment and then collapsed, laughing. "Sun-in-Glory… Heartsblood, _what_ _have_ _you_ _done_?"

Dressed as I was, I must have made quite the impression. Despite how they seemed to revere Veritas and myself, the Murqai were all laughing.

"Damnit, Amira! This will never work!" I protested, utterly humiliated.

"No, it is brilliant!" Salakhin argued. "This is Nexus you are trying to get into, Sun-Chosen. The River Harlot's legs, the… how you say? "sleaziest" city in The Scavenger Lands. And you look… ah, I admit, you look _very_ _bad._ But that is a good thing! Do you understand?"

I scowled. Amira elbowed me.

Veritas winked. "Just try not to start arguing with your dog!"

I turned to Amira who bowed and immediately shifted into the form of a medium-sized gray dog. Mustering her very best innocent expression, she looked up at me and wagged her tail.

"I hate you," I informed her.

She licked my face.

As we rolled down towards the blockade, I worried about Roach and wondered if I should tell him to stay with the Murqai permanently. Clearly he remembered enough from his childhood to feel comfortable around members of his old tribe. The lives of known Anathema are dangerous by any standards, particularly when one occupies the same portion of Creation as the Realm's most vicious Wyld Hunt.

Some money changed hands. Veritas greeted the silk merchant, who stared at me for a long while and then started laughing as the Murqai shoved me in the back of his wagon. I wasn't sure what they had told him, but he seemed relaxed enough about smuggling the two of us into the city. Still in her dog form, Amira bounded up into the wagon after me. Every so often she looked at me and I couldn't guess what she was thinking. I made an effort to rub as much of the makeup off of my faces as possible and attempted to untie the obi that Amira had wrapped around my ribs so tightly I could barely breathe. When I tried to stand, the wagon hit a rut and I fell over, Amira licked my face. Then she resumed her human form and fixed the collar of the kimono I was wearing.

"Take it easy!" She scolded.

I sighed in defeat. I knew from experience that it was worthless to threaten Amira. She had a witty retort for every line I could think up. "I swear I'm… I'm going to tie you up!" I finished pathetically as we passed a huge Southerner leading a string of cows.

"Keep talking dirty to me, lover!" Amira teased, resuming her dog form.

That was when we reached the blockade.

"Everyone out of the wagon!" A Dragonblooded soldier ordered. He looked like an Earth Aspect. Amira bounded out of the back of the wagon. I followed her.

"How many in your party?" A monk with a stack of papers inquired.

"Three. Myself, my partner, and... one of _his_ relatives," the merchant announced.

"What's this about?" Veritas demanded, taking the lead. He sounded exactly like every pretentious merchant I had ever known.

"We're looking for fugitives," The Dragonblood explained. "Cathak Loren, son of Dragonlord Chiron and his servant, a Southerner who goes by the name of "Roach". They may still be dressed in the colors of the Ravenous Winds."

Still fiddling with my awful disguise, I accidentally backed directly into a monk. Amira bounded towards me and nudged me with her nose. When I shoved her away, she returned to playing the part of a stray well enough and stayed close to the edge of the crowd.

"Is something wrong, ma'am?" The monk wondered. Two more soldiers opened the back of our wagon and began examining its contents. Of course, all of our incriminating possessions were conveniently stashed in "Elsewhere".

"Ma'am?" The monk repeated. It wasn't until he put his hand on my shoulder that I realized he was talking to me. He instinctively took a step back as I turned in his direction. Even a fool would have recognized that I was not a woman. My "chest" had come unstuffed and I quickly scooped up the scarves that had fallen in the dirt – mostly because I was too mortified to make eye contact with anyone dressed as I was.

Veritas took hold of my hair immediately and pulled me down to his level, which was about four inches shorter than my own height. Then he turned me halfway upside down and seized hold of my ear. After hearing his opinion on Immaculates, I guessed that he'd been a monk, and the maneuver he'd used to get my attention confirmed it. He obviously had formal training. He could have dropped me on my face in any number of ways, but he'd purposefully chosen the manner that would be most painful, and most likely to make me look completely inept, despite the fact that I was a martial artist myself.

"Ow!" I protested. "Let me go!"

"You degenerate!" Veritas scolded. "What have I told you about flirting with soldiers! I swear I'll lock you back up in the wagon!"

I didn't have an opportunity to say anything in return. After his soldiers found nothing incriminating in our baggage, the officer snorted and motioned for us to keep going. He watched me until the crowd swallowed us up and I tried not to look at him. I hoped desperately that the expression that I couldn't read on his face was actually disgust.

Veritas threw me back into the wagon. As soon as we were out of sight of the inspectors, Amira hopped back into the wagon, resumed her human form and smacked me hard on the back of the head.

"You _idiot!_ " She growled. "You almost got us caught!"

"This wasn't my idea!" I protested.

She tousled my hair and laughed. "I know, I know! But we got into the city, didn't we? It could've gone a lot worse!"

"I am wearing rogue and a kimono. I fail to see how," I glared at her. Amira smirked mischievously.

The Murqai cart driven by Salakhin rolled up beside silk merchant's as we turned down a narrow street. Veritas, Amira, and I quickly thanked the merchant and hopped in the back of the Murqai cart. He waved us off. He'd already been paid, and that was all he cared.

"So where to next?" Roach wondered, peering through the window of the cart at the three of us in the back.

"My apprentice lives fairly close to here. Two streets over, one street down." Amira replied.

"Why am I not surprised that your "apprentice" lives in Harlotry?" Veritas sighed. Obviously, he knew the lay of the city. Not that it surprised me. He spoke Rivertongue like a native, and with a name like Veritas, I suspected that he'd been born in the Scavenger Lands.

"You have an apprentice?" I wondered, turning to Amira. It was the first I'd heard of such a thing.

"Of course. A Lunar my age? I've had dozens. Someone's got to keep those young pups in line!" Amira smirked. "But Emerald Viper was one of my all-time favorites. We're kindred spirits. You boys are just going to _love_ her."

Veritas rolled his eyes and Roach started laughing.

"Stop it!" I elbowed him, probably a lot harder than he should have.

Roach almost fell off the wagon, but Salakhin caught his hand and heaved him back up. He blinked at me in surprise, looking hurt.

Amira glared at me. "Do that again and you're going to kill your mortal!"

"Why do you call me that? I have a name!" Roach demanded.

"Yes, and you're a fugitive now, remember?" Amira replied.

"Oh, and calling me "mortal" is real subtle!" Roach snorted.

"He's got a point!" I smiled. "Weren't you just complaining about my acting ability?"

Amira scowled. "If anyone gets us caught, it's going to be you! Loren, you can't tell a lie to save your life, not unless it's a lie that you've convinced yourself is true! You may have taught yourself some pretty impressive stuff, but the things you know aren't going to help you lie low now that the biggest Wyld Hunt in the Scavenger Lands _knows_ you're a Solar. And if you don't lie low… you're a dead man."

We approached the Bridge of Whispers.

"Turn right here." Amira pointed, and Roach nodded. We crossed into Fishmarket and began following River Road south. The neighborhood we were passing through was one of the worst in Nexus, and anyone who stared at us too long was politely reminded by a local mercenary that it wasn't polite to watch people who were minding their own business. At the Big Market, we parted ways with the Murqai, who wished us all well again. Because of Amira's insistence, I grudgingly sold my lamellar armor and carefully tucked the coin inside my clothing where no sticky fingers would find it.

It was after dark when the four of us finally reached Viper's "business". The building was several stories tall and built in the style of an Imperial estate with huge red and gold columns lining the street. I stared in disbelief at the gaudy, brightly lit sign which featured a diminutive red-faced little Dragonblood attempting to cleave a grinning fox-eared Lunar in half.

" _Anathema's_?" Veritas muttered something that sounded like an Old Realm curse word.

"Hello boys!" A girl chirped, leaning out the window. She was about sixteen and unusually well-endowed, stripped down to nothing but a flimsy little chainmail ensemble and painted with a fair imitation of moonsilver tattoos. A bronzed young man in a loincloth opened the door for us, flashing a smile. He had fox tail pinned to his rear _and_ an incoherent golden smudge on his head.

I stared in horror. I wasn't the only one.

"This is… this is the most offensive thing I've ever seen!" Veritas sputtered. "It's… positively _heretical_!"

There was something very monkish about the expression on his face at that moment. Roach laughed. Anyone who had overheard him must have thought that he was a true believer of the Immaculate philosophy. Of course, I suspected that Veritas was more concerned by how the business was likely to be perceived by the Unconquered Sun.

"Where better for two Solars to remain inconspicuous?" Amira bowed dramatically. "Anyone who rants and raves about seeing a demon on _this_ street gets a night in the can!"

"Can?" Veritas eyed her suspiciously.

"Street slang for jailhouse," Amira clarified.

Roach beamed as the girl in the chainmail bounded over to him and drew an awkward circle in gold paint on his head. "Well, I don't know about you two, but _I'm_ going in!" He winked in Amira's direction.

"Let me see if I have this straight," Veritas paused. "Your apprentice runs a brothel where whores _pretend_ to be Exalts? Why hasn't the Immaculate Order burned this place to the ground?"

"Are you kidding?" Amira laughed, taking him by the arm and leading him inside. There was a table full of soldiers dressed in the colors of House Sesus not two feet away from the door. More than half of the men had gold or silver paint on their faces, and a whore wearing a set of cat ears was sitting on their Dragonblooded officer's lap."This is their favorite hangout!" She winked.

"Damnit, get off of me!" Veritas cursed, dodging two whores who were trying their damnedest to smear some gold paint on him. When he stumbled back into us, he had not _one_ but _two_ Twilight Caste Marks on his face, one between his eyes where it should have been and the other on his chin.

I broke out laughing despite myself. "Looks like they got you!"

"Not so subtle yourself," Veritas retorted as a waifish little blond covered with painted leopard spots slapped a dollop of gold paint on my head and then proceeded to turn the blob into something that probably resembled my Caste Mark.

"Mm. Hello Sun-Child! _You_ look good enough to eat!" A voice caught my attention and I slowly turned around. A voluptuous woman with skin the color of dark chocolate and brilliant green eyes stood behind me with her hands on her hips. She was beautiful by any standards and her strong accent made her seem even more exotic and seductive. Her moonsilver tattoos glowed in the firelight with a luster that left me absolutely certain that she was a genuine Lunar.

I suspected she saw no reason to be subtle when most of her customers were heavily intoxicated. Winking at Amira, the Lunar seized my arm and drew me towards her, as if she were planning on kissing me. Then she flicked her snake tongue in my face, unabashedly showing off her Tell. Despite myself, I immediately fell on the floor.

"You must be Viper," I observed, probably sounding nervous.

"Guilty as charged! C'mere, you!" Viper winked and wrapped Amira in a hug. I knew from experience that Amira's hugs could raise anyone's body temperature by a dozen degrees and was not as surprised as I probably looked to see Viper putting her hands on Amira in places where a more refined woman might have slapped them away. "Oh, Mira dear, he's _scrumptious!_ " Viper batted her eyes. "Please tell me we can play with him later?"

I must have blushed absolutely scarlet at the sound of those words. It was very obvious that Amira and Viper had a "past" in more ways than one. I did not doubt that if she and Amira worked together, they would get whatever they wanted out of me, no matter how utterly shocking.

Raised in a Dynast's household, I was no stranger to deviant behavior. Powerful Dragonbloods whose marriage partners could not satisfy their urges often had mistresses, kept men, sex slaves, or even entire harems. Even still, Amira often sent my head spinning with her "suggestions" and although we had only just met, I suspected that the most obscene, hedonistic Sesus who had ever lived could not hold a candle to Emerald Viper.

"We'll see. So how have you been, my sneaky little pet?" Amira asked.

"Well, as you can see… business is busy, busy, busy!" Viper sighed. "But other than that, I'm bored to tears. Nobody painted you yet?" She inquired, brushing aside Amira's silver hair to see if any of the whores had painted a Caste Mark on her.

"Hey, Boss! There you are! Loren, have you _seen_ Veritas?" Roach exclaimed. He had an overflowing mug in each hand and looked perfectly at home in his surroundings. "He's got _targets_ all over him now!" Roach added, taking a long drink out of one of his mugs. "Damn, this stuff is good! Who makes it?"

"That would be _me,_ " Viper smirked.

When he saw Viper, Roach gave a low wolf-whistle. " _You're_ Amira's apprentice?" He observed, the tone of his voice making it very clear that he was about to follow with some sort of atrocious pickup line. Viper didn't give him the chance to embarrass himself.

"I _was_ , many, many years ago. Now we're friends," She whispered in a tone that left everything to the imagination. For the second time, I caught Viper and Amira both undressing me with their eyes.

"My name is Emerald Viper," Viper circled around Roach, evaluating him as potential prey. His eyes followed her in the same manner. "And you are?" Viper pressed.

Roach recovered quickly. "Roach. I'm with them," He replied, jerking a thumb at me.

"A pleasure. Welcome to my humble establishment," Viper replied. She observed the smudged mark on Roach's head and reached out with one very long fingernail to catch a drip of paint before it rolled down his nose.

"So what'd they paint on me? I haven't seen it," Roach admitted.

"Well, right now it's all running down your face," Viper admitted. "If you step behind that red curtain over there, I'll grab a few of my brushes and… tattoo you into some kind of wild animal, eh? A tiger? A wolf?" She suggested. "A stallion?" Viper made an outrageously obnoxious noise. I took a few steps back, but Roach seemed to take her absurd behavior as a sign to start acting like an imbecile himself.

"Mm. I can't decide. What are you going to be?" He taunted.

"Oooh, I like you!" Viper exclaimed, grabbing Roach by the collar of his shirt. The two of them waltzed back into the kitchen, giggling like hyenas. Did Viper think that Roach was also an Exalt? He did seem awfully comfortable around us. I decided not to say anything. Amira must have sensed my apprehension though, because she definitely looked concerned.

"So that was your apprentice? What exactly _did_ you teach her?"

"Everything she needed to know to be a good Lunar," Amira replied.

"Hunting, fighting, stalking, stealing and…" I trailed off into silence.

"Mm. _Everything,_ " Amira whispered my ear. "So, shall we go see what our "students" are up to?" She suggested. "Viper may think she knows everything, but I think she could use a little... _discipline_."

I stared at Amira. She giggled. I knew she loved how I reacted when she said something outrageous, and while I was fairly sure that it would be a bad idea to let Viper have Roach alone, I _really_ didn't want to watch whatever it was she had planned for him. Amira, on the other hand, was clearly of the opinion "the more, the merrier!"

"Absolutely not," I replied.

"Spoilsport!" Amira frowned. I sat down at a table in the far corner of the room. A very effeminate boy dressed as a dappled horse brought us two overflowing mugs of the house brew and then painted a silver crescent moon on Amira's brow.

"How do they know?" I wondered, looking at my reflection in the mirror on the ceiling. The gold paint had dripped almost down to my nose. Despite the alarm that I knew it would cause if anyone actually saw me, I illuminated my Caste Mark for a brief moment, observing how closely the paint mirrored it.

"They _don't_ know!"Amira rolled her eyes, pointing to a Dragonblooded man, obviously a Water Aspect who sat at the bar. He had an open gold circle between his eyes and silver tattoos all over his face. "They _guess_ , and sometimes they just go crazy! Plenty of people come in here and don't get painted at all. A good whore can read a person. No magic involved."

"If you say so," I sighed.

I nearly jumped out of his skin as the doors blew open and immediately muted my caste mark, expecting the Wyld Hunt. Looking equally nervous, Veritas dunked into the corner booth right beside me, still trying to rub the paint off of himself. He was covered in so much gold that it looked like he'd been burning Essence.

Amira seemed to recognize the man who'd just walked into Anathema's immediately. "Don't look now, it's Dead Eddie!" She groaned.

"Who?" Veritas wondered, staring in the direction that Amira had just warned him not to.

Right before the House Sesus table stood a ghost. He was gaunt, even for one of the dead and dressed in archaic funerary robes, dark circles under his eyes and a mop of stringy black hair on his head. Surrounding him was an entourage, mostly faces I recognized from elsewhere in Harlotry and the theatre district. A vacant-looking blond woman clung to the arm of a brawny, equally vacant-looking young man. Both of them were wearing little horns on their heads.

"What's _this_? Fair folk?" The girl controlling the door immediately ran to greet them.

"No, we're yozi!" The blond giggled.

"Wow! Real yozi? I don't think we've ever had yozi in here before!" The girl exclaimed. "Well, you've come to the right place! Well, I'm Kitten, and if there is anything at all you need, _you-just-let-me-know_!"

"He looks familiar," I observed, still staring at Dead Eddie.

"He's been around for a long time." Amira admitted. "In life, he was a lousy writer. In death, he's still a writer."

"A better writer?" Veritas suggested hopefully, watching Dead Eddie's entourage.

"Not exactly. His plays are morbid and totally incomprehensible. The difference is, Eddie has always liked to write stuff about famous Solars – so _now_ he's edgy and controversial. Back in the old days he was sort of _blah,_ _blah,_ _blah_. All those people who follow him claim he's got an incredibly "intense" personality." Amira sighed. "Of course, most of them are drug addicts. Or morons." She jerked a thumb at the pair of "yozi" and I sighed heavily.

Were there no depths that people of Nexus would not sink to?

"Speaking of which, have you _heard_ about Dead Eddie's new play?" Viper grinned wickedly, appearing out of nowhere and sliding up to our table. She still had her arm around Roach, who looked _very_ pleased to have such a woman sitting on his lap. Despite Viper's promise to "tattoo" Roach, it seemed that she hadn't even fixed the mark on his forehead. The paint wasn't still dripping, but all it looked like was a gold thumb print.

"We just got into town. You might say we're a little behind on the gossip," Amira admitted.

"Well, I'm just going to tell you the "working title" and then you tell _me_ how it's going to go over." Viper replied. "It's called, get this… "The Fall of the Deliberative"."

"They can perform that? Publicly?" Veritas blinked in surprised.

"This is Nexus, city of merry oblivion. You could _kill_ someone in the middle of the Big Market and get away with it… so long as you didn't interrupt anyone's business," Amira informed him. "Usually the local Immaculates protest and try to get things canceled or banned. They'll probably be everywhere when Dead Eddie's show opens."

"I wouldn't bet on it," Viper admitted. "Right now those busybodies have their work cut out for them. They can't chase all the heretics out of this city anymore, so now they're trying to shove most of them into Fishmarket and Harlotry. About two weeks ago the Emissary issued a proclamation declaring legal status for all religions. And get this… he didn't even warn the Guild. He just did it on his own, went out and nailed the order to the doors of the Immaculate Temple."

"The Emissary?" I remembered how I had seen him watching me from the rooftops the last time I'd been in Nexus. I was very anxious to meet the man. "Who is he really?"

"Well, that's the thing – nobody knows." Viper explained. "He's obviously very powerful, and he's been here for hundreds of years. It used to be that he just issued orders from up in his tower, but for the last five years he's been roaming the streets like a vigilante. The last Dragonblooded who roughed up my girls were found stark naked and tied around a fountain in the Big Market with their underwear balled up in their mouths. Reports said it was one man who took them all out, wearing a mask and a white hooded cloak."

"I see," I observed with a slight smile. Since the first time I'd laid eyes upon Veritas's cloak-construct, Godchaser, I had been certain that there was some connection between my Circlemate and the mysterious watcher of the night.

Veritas gave me an odd look but said nothing.

So he wasn't the Emissary himself?

Did he know who was? I wondered about that.

"Wait just a minute. _All_ religions are legal in this city? What about the ones that sacrifice animals and have weird sorts of sex rituals?" Roach demanded, slightly behind our conversation.

"I like that second part best," Viper informed Roach, as if that were something he couldn't guess.

"Personally, I think Luna prefers her temples to be a little further from civilization. You know, where you can actually howl at the moon?" Amira smiled slightly and gave a dramatic little howl. Viper snickered.

"Well, what about demon worshippers and death cults?" Veritas pressed, looking grim.

"The Wyld Hunt isn't that far away, and although they lost a lot of people fighting the fae, the Realm will send reinforcements for this kind of heresy!" I protested.

Viper snorted and rolled her eyes.

"I'm surprised that you're not more worried," I observed.

"Well, I'm _not._ I make _a lot_ of money, and I am very generous with my loans! If those Realm buffoons get in my face, I'll go straight to the Guild and threaten to collect what I'm currently owed," She replied, jerking a thumb at several Dragonblooded sitting near the bar. "And if that doesn't get them booted out of Nexus, I'll have Shadowsbane dunk them in the Yanaze."

The name Shadowsbane was immediately familiar to me. Like Perfect Mechanical Soul, Shadowsbane had been one of Alexander's companions. But was Viper talking about the same Shadowsbane, or merely someone else arrogant enough to claim the name?

That was when another stranger made his entrance, a very well-dressed man with long, curly auburn hair. His perfectly tailored blue velvet jacket reminded me of some of the fashions I had seen in the First Age. Though I couldn't immediately identify his face, his obnoxious barking laugh was unmistakable. I knew without a doubt that I'd met the man before, but his name would not come to me.

"Oooh, lookey what the cat dragged in! Adamant Quill!" Viper exclaimed, rising from her seat to greet the newcomer. The whore called "Kitten" meowed and attached herself to the man's arm.

"Ahah! You're mine tonight, Master Quill!" She giggled. "Rowr!"

"Do you know that man?" Veritas asked the boy who came to refill our drinks. He was watching Quill with obvious suspicion.

"Everyone knows Adamant Quill. He's the best tipper in town. Dunno why he's down here alone. He only usually comes in when there aren't enough tables at the An-Tang Princess for his adoring fans," The boy explained.

"Fans?" I wondered.

Amira rolled her eyes. "You think those "yozi" hanging onto Dead Eddie are embarrassing? You should see some of the trash that Quill usually totes around!" She smirked.

The moment that Adamant Quill and Dead Eddie caught sight of one another, I could have sworn I felt the ground shake beneath my feet. Obviously, there was bad blood between the two men. I couldn't shake what Viper's whore had said about Quill coming in to Anathema's for the sole purpose of causing trouble.

"Dead Eddie! Fancy meeting you here!" Quill beamed, holding out his arms as if for a hug.

The ghost glared at him. "What do _you_ want?"

"Is that any way to talk to your oldest friend?" Quill demanded.

"You're not my friend, you're my _tormentor!_ " Dead Eddie replied with enviable melodrama.

"Tormentor? Tormentor!" Quill rolled his eyes. "Gods, do you hear yourself? All of this over a bloody whore? Friends before dames, Deadie. Friends before dames! Now are you going to stop acting like a child and have a drink with me?"

"I'll be damned if I ever drink with you again, you backstabbing madman! Whatever you said to her, Three Pearls has blacklisted me!" Dead Eddie protested. "Do you have any idea how bad that makes me look? The production of the century, and not one reputable actress in the cast!"

The woman who'd claimed to be a yozi earlier looked upset by the words the playwright spoke, but she said nothing. Adamant Quill only laughed, that familiar, harsh, barking sound. I felt a distinct chill.

That was when I caught sight of a pair of slate gray eyes, cold as a dead fish, peering in through the corner of the front window. The eyes belonged to a little girl, no older than ten years who stood out on the street despite the pouring rain. She was not wearing any shoes and the oversized black funerary robes that she wore made me suspect that she was a ghost. But the presence I felt worried me, it didn't seem like one of the dead.

Well, not one of the _usual_ dead anyway. There was something fundamentally _wrong_ about that child, as horrible as it was familiar. When I blinked, she was gone.

Dead Eddie stomped out of Anathema's, and Adamant Quill immediately followed him. Leaving Kitten standing like a sentinel in front of the bar, Viper came sashaying back to the rest of us.

"What was that all about?" Roach demanded, still watching the swinging door. I hadn't caught much of the conversation between the two men. The pale little girl I'd seen peering in the back window worried me more.

"Something about a woman called Three Pearls. The one called her a whore and the other disapproved of that description," I admitted.

"Three Pearls _is_ a whore, but I wouldn't say that too loud if I were you. She knows too many people who could make your life here in Nexus awfully miserable," Viper clarified. "Miss Pearls is exclusive… probably the most expensive bitch in Harlotry, but she can be bought just like the rest of us. She's got real pretensions of respectability though, enough to gag any honest whore. Calls her girls "entertainers" instead of what they are and sends em' to sing and pour drinks at parties for the rich folks who live up on Sentinel Hill. I can't abide by that artsy shit myself," Viper grimaced. "And besides, I got a few girls and boys who make just as much money as hers do, and they have more fun while they're at it." She paused, and from the expression on her face I could tell that something was very wrong.

"Mira? I'd better go outside and handle this," Viper whispered, not taking her eyes off of the front door. Both Adamant Quill and Dead Eddie's lackies were out in the middle of the street shouting very loudly. I could tell that things were about to get ugly.

"I'm going to go look for Recluse," I announced, though I doubted that anyone besides Roach heard me. I wasn't sure when he'd gotten up and left our table, but I felt compelled to ask him if he felt as strangely about Quill as I did.

I didn't get further than two steps out the back door of the whorehouse before I ran directly into Quill himself. He was a little shorter than I was and didn't have the look of a fighter, but I knew better than to make such an assumption about anyone. I was at a loss to guess how he'd dodged Viper so quickly and with so little apparent effort.

"Cathak Loren, I presume?" Adamant Quill smirked.

"How did you know?" I demanded. Belatedly I realized that I shouldn't have acknowledged my name. Then again, as Amira had pointed out... I've never been very good at lying.

"Not much in this city escapes my notice. But don't worry, I'm a friend," he replied. "Let's step back inside, shall we?"

I followed Quill around the corner, not sure what compelled me to do so. He led me in through the back door of Anathema's, as if sneaking around the place was something he had done many times before. Producing a little key from his pocket, he ushered me into a small private room with a single table and four chairs. As he closed the door behind us and pulled closed the curtains, I began to feel even more nervous.

"Why are we in here?" I demanded. The whole of the evening had been a tremendously confusing blur so far as I was concerned and unfortunately showed no signs of ending neatly.

"I felt that a proper introduction was necessary. I don't know if you recognize me or not, but I'm a very important person in this city. Adamant Quill the Two-Hundred and Twenty-Seventh at your service," he bowed dramatically.

"The Two-Hundred and Twenty-Seventh?" I stared in disbelief, not sure that I had heard correctly.

"Of course. My family has been in Nexus for over a thousand years. I'm named after my illustrious ancestor, one of the very first entrepreneurs to settle here," he beamed.

"Right. So what do you want with me?" I pressed.

"A little bird told me that you and your friends are on the run," he paused. "I bet your purse is lighter than you would like it to be."

"We could use some money," I admitted. Truthfully, I didn't know how much Amira or Veritas had squirreled away, but Roach and I were only in possession of our weapons and the clothes on our backs. I hadn't gotten nearly as much for my armor as I would have asked if I'd been afforded the time to sell it to someone reputable, as opposed to a street thug who would likely fence it for three times what he'd paid to me.

"Then let's make a deal. There's a Dragonblood here in town by the name of Sesus Nagezzer who's becoming a real thorn in my side. I need someone willing to do a little investigating around his compound. I suspect that Nagezzer is dealing with the Fae, specifically that they are supplying him with Wyld-tainted drugs in exchange for young women."

I did not even attempt to conceal my disgust. "Unbelievable!"

Quill smiled slightly. "My thoughts exactly," he paused.

"Loren, the long and short of it is that I want Nagezzer _humiliated_ in every way possible. I want him financially destroyed. The sooner he packs up his bags and hops a boat back to the Blessed Isle, the happier I'll be. And if you drum up enough dirt on the Slug to get him out of Nexus for good, I will make it worth your while. I'm a very well-connected man, Loren. I know people who know people."

"I see," I observed, suddenly not liking his tone at all. While the idea of trading women to the fae in exchange for drugs still sent a chill racing down my spine, I'd begun to suspect that Quill's own motives were hardly as pure as he'd made them sound.

"A friend of mine will supply you with anything you need. When you get back to your table, your friend Roach will have a piece of paper in his pocket. That paper will have my friend's address on it." He explained.

"Right. So what insurance do you need from me that I'll do this job of yours?" I asked.

"You're honorable. In fact, _your_ reputation is _pristine_. All I need is your word. You'll help me destroy that Dragonblood by exposing his dealings with the Fae. You'll free the girls if you can find them. You'll kill any Fae that get in your way. And if you're caught snooping, you won't tell anyone that I put you up to it. How's that?" Quill replied.

I hesitated, but then I felt… a little braver, I suspect. I was already a wanted fugitive, and killing fae always sounded good to me. What did I have to lose?

"I'll take the job. I'll get you Nagezzer, but only if he really is dealing with the fae. And no matter what happens, I want you to promise that you won't tell _anyone_ that my friends and I are here in Nexus. Also, I want paid. Ten percent right now, and then twenty-five percent of whatever you're making out of this."

"You drive a hard bargain. Shake on it?" The moment our fingertips met, I knew that I had made a serious mistake. Quill took my hand with a grip like a marble statue and I couldn't have pulled away if I chose to. "Then let ours be an honorable oath, sealed under Heaven," he recited.

Brilliant white Solar Essence filled the room. I immediately understood why Quill had pulled the curtains when he walked in the door. He'd been intending to trick me into shaking his hand all along so that he could bind me to my promise!

"That was extremely sneaky, and completely unnecessary!" I scolded him. "What kind of Solar are you?" I demanded. In fairness, the only other Solar I'd ever met was Veritas, but that didn't change the fact that Quill had intentionally lured me into a place where he could use his powers on me without anyone catching him in the act. The Eclipse Caste mark on Quill's brow flickered, so pale gold that it was almost white.

"Oh my, you called me a _Solar_!" Quill seemed genuinely surprised. "Well, there's something you don't hear every day! I must say, for a Dragonblood you have _very_ good manners! Usually when I do this sort of thing, I have to jump right into that "Behold, I'm a demon!" bit."

Words failed me. I gritted my teeth and gave the only answer I could. It was suddenly very bright in that little room.

Quill clapped his hands together and grinned wickedly as he saw my caste mark. "Ahah! I should have known! I've never met a real Cathak who didn't try to stab me on sight!" He informed me.

"You tricked me!" I protested.

"Yes, I tricked you. Shame on me!" He replied. "Next time it'll be your fault. Now I will admit, knowing that you are in fact a fellow Lawgiver and _not_ a lousy bastard of Hesiesh does change things. I shall not sabotage you, as I was considering before. But you must still uphold your end of our bargain, otherwise this oath will hurt us both." With a heavy sigh, he set a very full pouch of coins on the table in front of me. "There's your ten percent."

I opened the sack and stared. Every coin was jade. Quill had given me enough money to outfit a warship.

"This situation is more dangerous than you want to admit, isn't it? I could be killed!" I observed.

"And if you don't do as you have sworn – _you_ _will_ _be_." Quill replied coldly. When our eyes met, I felt a brief surge of fear. There was something behind his grinning mask that terrified me more than anything I'd ever seen before. As I stood facing Quill, I realized that there was a good chance that some Solars… some of _us_ might deserve the title of "Anathema". At very least, "Deceiver" seemed too mild of a term. Then again, if I knew anything at all about the Eclipse Caste… I knew that it had once been their duty to negotiate in the highest circles of Yu-Shan, not to mention the depths of the Underworld and the courts of the fae. Such a thing couldn't possibly be healthy for anyone and it was obvious that some of that Wyld had rubbed off on Quill.

Not knowing what else to do, I went to find Amira.


	23. Chapter 22 - Criminal Mischief (Loren)

**Chapter 22**

 **Criminal Mischief**

I learned from Viper that Amira was following Dead Eddie back to his apartment to be certain that he made it home without incident. I caught up with her at the Bridge of Whispers petting a little lop-eared white dog when I finally tracked her down. Roach had followed her. He was staring up at the stars. Veritas was examining the architecture of the bridge, furiously scribbling notes on a small piece of paper.

"I wish I could test this!" Veritas complained. His eyes drifted in the direction of a group of nearby mercenaries. "Just a few motes of Essence and…"

"What?" I asked.

He turned slowly in my direction. "Oh, Faeslayer! I didn't hear you coming." He admitted. "Well, I think that this bridge is designed to raise itself up. So that larger ships could pass underneath it and travel south on the river." He explained.

"Hunh. That is interesting," I nodded. "But I'm afraid that we've got something a little more important to worry about right now. Adamant Quill is a Solar."

"What?" Amira stood. The dog she had been petting bounded away. "Seriously? Are we talking about the same Adamant Quill?"

"The Two-hundred and twenty-seventh?" I supplied. "Yes. He's Eclipse Caste."

"Wow… you know, that just explains so much! I mean, I'd always wondered how he gets his paperwork done when he spends all day doing nothing but drinking coffee and telling people to take a bloody number. Charms! That sneaky bastard!" Amira laughed.

"No, this is _not_ funny!" I protested. "Quill's up to something dangerous and now I'm involved. He bound me into an oath that's probably going to get all of us killed. I need to figure out how to… cancel it, or something!" I finished.

"Well, you can't get out of Quill's oath. If he sealed it under Heaven, it would be pure stupidity to try. You really can't imagine what it could do to you!" Veritas shook his head.

"Thanks for your optimism," I sighed. I decided not to mention the money I'd already taken from Quill. There was a good chance I was going to need it.

"But we _can_ make him regret binding you!" Amira smirked, a spark of mischief in her eyes.

"How?" I asked, genuinely intrigued.

"We'll tell Dorian what he did. See, Dorian _likes_ Solars, generally speaking… but he's got it out for Quill. If he doesn't already know Quill is a Solar, I bet he'd _love_ to. And after the Emissary, Dorian Gray is the most feared man in Nexus. Well, he's actually a g _od_ but…" Amira continued.

"A god?"

"Dorian Gray claims that he used to be t _he_ _God_ of the Guild, one of the three most powerful deities in the Scavenger Lands. He's sort of… disenfranchised now. A local god of bureaucratic corruption and criminal mischief." Amira paused.

"Which explains why he's still the second most-powerful being in Nexus. After the Emissary, of course," Veritas added.

"Okay, so why don't we go see this Dorian?" I wondered.

"Well, nobody _sees_ Dorian," Amira explained. "Dorian _sees_ you. And if we want him to see us… we've got two choices. We could go to Three Pearls Radiant. Or…"

"Or we could get involved in a little criminal mischief." She suggested.

Viper was not very happy when she learned that the four of us had decided to set up a meeting with Three Pearls Radiant, "the pretentious old hag" who ran the most exclusive house of ill-repute in all of Harlotry. She something incoherent about "my Sapphire" and then wished us luck with sarcasm dripping from her voice.

I learned only much later why Three Pearls and Viper did not get along. Suffice to say, it was a very convoluted story which culminated in a wardrobe being set on fire. Since one fine kimono could cost more than even a very good prostitute could make in a year, as the whores of Harlotry saw it – starting such a fire was a hanging offense.

Of course, hanging Emerald Viper was something easier said than done. She was every bit as clever as Amira was and surrounded herself with a tight-knit group of whores, thieves, con-men and mercenaries, all of whom were willing to just about anything for their patroness.

It was not difficult to find _The_ _Three_ _Pearls_ _Teahouse_. Aside from _Anathema's_ , it was the tallest and most ostentatious building on the street. A mousy little maid answered the door. She said nothing at all but only ushered us into the sumptuous sitting room, assuming we were the sort of men who could afford to pay. That wasn't true... but Viper had provided each of us with a temporary loan of good clothing so that we wouldn't cause a stir walking into such an elite establishment. Veritas folded his hands on his lap and sat as if he had a board nailed to his back. He did not look comfortable, but he was clearly aware of what was expected of him. Roach poked at the curtains and I poured myself a small amount of brandy from a bottle on the table.

Because of her close relationship with Viper, Amira had elected to stay behind at Anathema's so that she wouldn't hinder our negotiations. It did not surprise me at all to learn that Amira and Three Pearls had met before and that the meeting had progressed in a "less than desirable" manner. I considered asking Roach to stay behind too, but I was still somewhat worried about leaving him alone with Viper. Being wrapped up in a relationship with a dangerous Lunar many centuries old was proving to be enough trouble for me. I couldn't imagine how Roach would fare in the same situation.

"The mistress will see you now," a woman dressed in pale blue announced, stepping into the room where we waited with no more sound than a ghost. Unlike Viper's employees who were utterly shameless, she was nothing if not the pinnacle of refinement. I might have mistaken her for a Dynast. Veritas bowed politely and she smiled. I wasn't sure if the expression on her face was genuine or not, but it looked that the woman found Veritas attractive. I knew that he'd been a monk before he Exalted and was beginning to suspect that before entering the monastery he'd once moved in Dynastic social circles just as I had myself.

Roach avoided the woman's gaze. Though he'd been right at home at Viper's brothel, coming into The Three Pearls Teahouse was too much like walking into a Dynast's House for his liking. I had to admit that most of the members of my family had treated him reprehensibly during our years on The Blessed Isle. Sometimes I wondered what possessed him to stay with me as long as he had.

The three of us followed the woman up a narrow flight of stairs and through the ornate wooden doors of a very fine office. A well-dressed woman was sitting on a pile of cushions in the center of the room, sipping a cup of tea and perusing an account book with a faint smile on her face as if it were a somewhat risque novel.

Three Pearls Radiant was a tiny woman with very pale skin, peculiar mismatched eyes and long black hair with a dozen colorful little feathers in it, not ornaments, as I initially expected. Some of the feathers smoked faintly as she stood and acknowledged the three of us. Her fingernails were like claws, and the air around her smelled faintly of opium and sake. That was when I remembered something that Amira had muttered before the three of us had left for the Teahouse.

Three Pearls was a godblood, the daughter of Burning Feather, the Goddess of Intoxicants. While not as powerful as Veritas or myself, she was much older than either of us, and very crafty.

"She may attempt to use Charms on us." Veritas whispered, nudging me.

"I'll keep an eye on Roach." I informed him.

"Welcome, gentlemen!" Three Pearls smiled, gliding towards us like a butterfly in her beautiful white silks. She stopped directly before me and traced the line of my jaw with one fingernail. "Now tell me, beautiful boy... what can I do for _you_?" She whispered seductively.

I stared, dumbfounded. With Veritas and Roach on either side of me, it hadn't even occurred to me that I would be her first target.

"It's business before pleasure today, madam," Veritas interrupted, seeing that I was stumbling over the words that I'd rehearsed. "We need to arrange a meeting with Dorian Gray."

"Oh." Three Pearls replied flatly, wrinkling her nose. "Why?" She demanded, sitting back down with her papers.

I felt a slight disturbance in the air around me and the smell of opium in the room became somewhat stronger. Three Pearls had just used a Charm, probably to ascertain whether or not we were telling her the truth.

"I'm in trouble with Adamant Quill. Now I'm not from Nexus, madam, and I've only been told that Dorian is the only man capable of getting Quill off my back. I agreed to do a job for him, not knowing who he was, and he may be arranging to have me killed." I finished, though what Quill had said about a Dragonblooded selling mortal girls to the Fae made my blood boil.

Though I didn't want to work with Quill's metaphorical claws in my neck, I knew I'd be doing some investigating even if we did managed to get him to rescind the oath he'd bound me to.

Three Pearls narrowed her eyes. "What sort of job?" She demanded.

"Some girls who've disappeared. Quill thinks there's a pattern. He thinks they've been kidnapped by some merchant called Nagezzer and sold to the Fae. He wants us to investigate." I explained.

"Well, Quill is right about Sesus Nagezzer." Three Pearls replied without hesitation. "Eight girls have vanished in the last two weeks and all of them near his compound. The problem is, none of them were actually hired by Nagezzer, so there's no direct link to him. Worse still, even those who have friends in low places have not been able to find any evidence of what happened."

"You do suspect Fae then?" Veritas pressed.

"Yes. But I would also advise you against investigating this matter further. As you suspect, doing so may cost you your life." She replied. "The curse that Quill most likely worked upon you is not as deadly as the things you would be meddling in by upholding your bargain. You do know, or you've just learned, I suspect... that Adamant Quill is Anathema. That's why you asked about Dorian, isn't it? Don't be afraid of Quill. He may be a demon, but his bark is far worse than his bite."

"I'm _not_ afraid of him!" I argued. "But if the Fae are taking young women... they must be stopped!"

"Yeah!" Roach agreed. It was the first thing he'd said since we came inside.

"Boy, you do _not_ have the power to meddle in the affairs of the Red Queen." Three Pearls reprimanded me. "Neither does Quill, which is why he deigned to put your lives on the line instead of his own. I will never understand what my daughter sees in that arrogant lout." She snorted.

"Your daughter?" Veritas paused.

"She is among the missing, and Quill adores her as much as he loathes me. Which is why I'm certain that you will not stand a chance against the ones who are behind this. Sapphire may be coarse and crude and reckless... but she does have some redeeming qualities. She is exceptionally strong in every sense of the word and far more intelligent than her wagging tongue makes her sound." Three Pearls finished.

"Fair enough," Veritas nodded. "But, supposing we were inclined to ignore your warnings and go looking anyway? Where would you recommend we start?"

"I would recommend Cogging Street. Little Fox, that Djala miscreant, said something to me about a bakery. Fox is a friend of Sapphire's, and he saw her last." Three Pearls sighed heavily. "But really, if this matter is beyond me, and beyond Adamant Quill... what makes you think that you three stand a chance?"

"Lady, you don't know us!" Roach replied with a slight smile.

"Good luck then. You're going to need it," Three Pearls nodded cordially. "Come back if you need more information," she offered. "I hope I will have something more for you."

"And what about Dorian?" Veritas pressed.

"Find Sapphire and you won't need to deal with him." She replied. "She'll handle Quill."

"Must be some girl," Roach observed.

"Takes after her mother," the Seamstress at the door added. Three Pearls shot her a black look and she immediately scurried away.

We went back to Anathema's and Roach and I sat down with Viper and Amira in the little back room where Quill had bound me with his oath. We drew the curtains and waited for Veritas, who'd insisted upon changing out of his borrowed clothes immediately. He looked a great deal like the Emissary himself when he returned all clad in white and gold. The way he dressed would have suited the First Age and it absolutely baffled me that everyone in Nexus did not immediately guess that he was a Solar.

When he entered, his construct "Godchaser" shrieked gleefully and flew up from underneath the table. Roach almost fell out of his chair and Amira's tail bristled. The construct began jabbering at him in Old Realm, speaking so fast that I couldn't hope to understand anything it said. Veritas calmly asked it to quiet down, at least for the moment and promised that they'd discuss whatever it was that she'd learned later. When he sat across from Viper at the foot of the table, the construct hovered over his shoulder, watching all of us gravely.

Taking some little tools out of nothingness, Veritas immediately set to work on a tiny orichalcum device that he produced from his pocket. I knew what it was immediately. It was one of his "killer bugs".

Though I hadn't known what I was toying with when I'd actually caused one to explode back on the Blessed Isle, I'd since learned that they were tiny, essence-powered surveillance devices. In his past life, Veritas had commanded a veritable armada of them. Perfect had called them "Resplendent Whirlagigs."

"We're here to have a meeting," Viper informed him.

"I'm listening," He replied.

"You can't listen _and_ fiddle!" She reprimanded him.

"Are you implying that _I'm_ incapable of doing two things at once?" He gave a slight sardonic smile, folded his hands and illuminated his Caste Mark. Though he did not touch the device or his tools, the work he'd begun continued anyway.

Viper rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. Roach stared in awe. "All right, maybe _you_ can build something without thinking about it! But that doesn't change the fact that you're being awfully distracting right now when we all need to focus. I mean, look at Roach!" She jerked a thumb at Roach.

Roach immediately composed himself. "I'm fine!" He protested, though he still kept one eye trained on Veritas and his Whirlagig which was meticulously repairing itself.

"Let him work!" Amira snorted. "Roach had better get used to seeing the rest of us burn Essence. Loren insists on keeping him."

"I'm not "keeping" Roach! He's not a pet!" I reprimanded her. "He's got the same right to be here as the rest of us, and he can walk away when he wants to!"

Everyone in the room, including Roach, glanced at me doubtfully.

"I'm not controlling him! We're not gods!" I protested.

"You haven't met many gods, have you, Faeslayer?" Veritas observed.

"Well... no." I admitted truthfully, remembering my encounter with Madame Marthacine.

"I didn't think so. If you _had,_ you'd know that most of them are terrified of us," Veritas explained. "I've said it before and I'll say it as many times as I have to. You need to hear it until it sinks in." He sighed heavily. "We are _Solars_ , Loren. We are the _scariest_ things in Creation. Anything more powerful than us comes from beyond this world."

I said nothing in response. There wasn't a whole lot I could say after hearing that.

"All right. The way I see it, we need to be very, very careful. We probably don't have a lot of time, but we can't afford to underestimate the fae." I paused. "Tomorrow morning our first mission will be strictly reconnaissance. We'll look for this bakery that Three Pearls mentioned and interrogate some of the people who live on Cogging Street near Nagezzer's compound."

"I love _interrogations_!" Amira added.

"I know. That's part of the reason I don't think you should be doing the talking. We don't need to terrify these people out of their wits. Most of them are probably innocent and don't know anything. Use your stray dog disguise and keep close to us. That way, no one will recognize you, and if we need backup you can go get Viper."

"Oh, boo! You're no fun at all!" Amira pouted.

Veritas sighed and rolled his eyes. "I agree with Faeslayer. We need to lie low and avoid getting into any trouble with the Realm. Any… _more_ trouble, that is."

"All right, you two can go do your "interrogating" without me! I'll follow you." Amira sighed, slinking around behind me. "Tell you what. I'm gonna go back to the bar and drink some more and when _you_ decide you're done "thinking"…" She tugged on my shirt collar and leaned down to whisper in my ear. "Come find me upstairs."

Veritas shrugged and went back to work on his device, Godchaser whispering things over his shoulder. It was late enough in the day that Viper's business was beginning to pick up for the evening and Roach had apparently decided that it was early enough to start drinking too. Trying not to dwell on our plans for tomorrow, I went upstairs.

Amira met me at the door of our room and decided that she'd had enough of the clothes that I was wearing. She tore off my shirt and dragged me into bed. The sensation of her fingers running through my hair and her lips just an inch from my throat made me completely forget how badly I'd wanted to strangle her earlier. As much as she ever infuriated me, there was a softer side to Amira. She gave a little sigh of contentment as she rested her head against my chest. I'd always believed that I would marry someday… that sort of thing is an obligation in any Dynast's House, but I hadn't really given much thought to the kind of woman my wife would be. And I would _never_ have envisioned myself with someone like Amira!

Her tail tickled my thigh as she nestled closer to me. I sighed, reached down and carefully tried to move it without waking her. My attempt did not go unnoticed.

"Yeeeess?" Amira giggled.

"Nothing." I told her.

"You've got my tail," she informed me.

"You're… you're tickling me with it!" I sighed in defeat and immediately let go, knowing how red I must have looked and feeling painfully flustered.

"Oh?" She teased, poking me in the ribs. Her tattoos gleamed in the moonlight. The first time I'd seen them, they'd shocked me… but I was getting used to them. And in a strange way, I was beginning to think that they made her somehow more attractive than she already was, in the same way that a beautiful dress would have. The tattoos conveyed was a sense of everything that Amira ever was, whimsical, brilliant, and maddening. And for all that Amira doubted Luna's presence, I could see all over her the signature of her patron Goddess.

I wondered for a moment how I looked through her eyes, so like my past self that sometimes she could not seem to tell the two of us apart. Not for the first time, I touched my own finger where I as Alexander had worn my wedding ring.

Not in the mood for my musings, Amira pounced on me and pinned down my wrists. She held a length of silk ribbon in her teeth and the mischievous spark in her eyes warned me that I was _not_ going to have a say in whatever she had planned.

As fate would have it, that was when two of Anathema's inebriated patrons opened our door. The first was a young Dragonblooded officer and behind him was one of Viper's girls, who did not look surprised to see an _authentic_ Lunar wearing nothing at all.

The Dragonblooded stared at Amira in confusion, probably wondering what he was seeing… until the whore he was with quickly slammed our door. "Let's try a different room," the whore suggested quickly.

"Did you _see_ him? Oh, that little _pervert_! He wanted to join us so bad I could smell it!" Amira tittered.

"You're horrible!" I told her.

" _You_ _love_ _it,_ " She purred in my ear, tying my wrists together with her ribbon.

Suffice to say, I'd had hardly any sleep when some sort of early morning commotion woke Amira.

While she searched for her clothes, I stumbled down the steps to see what was going on. The first person who caught my eye was Roach. Obviously nursing a hangover, he was lying on the bar with a cold rag on his forehead. He didn't look like he'd had any sleep either, not with that smug smile on his face.

I didn't see what the problem was, not at first. There was a lot of shouting going on between Viper, one of her boys and a few of the soldiers who were standing in the doorway of Anathema's. There were at least a dozen of them, and a few looked vaguely familiar to me. Of course, since I'd only just woken up and had been fooling around with Amira all night… I was feeling a bit more like Alexander than myself. It took me almost too long to recognize the colors of the Ravenous Winds, and when I did, I jumped behind the nearest curtain.

The officer in charge of the men was one I knew well, a Wood-Aspect by the name of Yarati. He and I had graduated from the same class at Paisap's Stair, but while I had chosen the Winds for the opportunity Mnemon Rai promised, Yarati had joined up simply because no one else would take him. He was the kind of single-minded zealot who would have perhaps fared better in the Immaculate Order than with the army, more of a liability than an asset when it came to dealing with ordinary people.

The half-baked plan that I'd concocted, using Three Pearls and Dorian Gray to get petty revenge on Quill for deceiving me was suddenly seemed a lot less important and a lot riskier. If our old legion had found us already, Roach and I were going to need as many friends as we could get… insane Eclipse Castes included.

"I've said it once and I'll say it again!" Viper snapped. "I have a right to run my business as I see fit! This establishment is _legal_. I have a business license from the Guild. They know _exactly_ what I do here, and The Emissary himself has signed off on it. You still got a problem, you take it up with him!"

Roach groaned and started to sit up, obviously oblivious to who it was that had just come into the bar.

"Down, boy!" Viper scolded.

"Cockroach?" Yarati blinked in disbelief.

"Shit!" Roach cursed, flipping off the bar and falling flat on his face.

"Search the place!" Yarati ordered. "The Anathema is here!"

I didn't waste a moment. As I turned the corner, I scooped up Amira and ran for the nearest window with her in my arms.

"Damnit, Loren, what's gotten into you?" She demanded, hammering on my back with her fists.

"The Ravenous Winds are downstairs!" I shouted as Veritas stepped out of the bath wearing nothing but a towel.

Veritas paled and took off running. From his room, I heard his construct exclaim "Uh oh!"

"We'd better split up. Everyone for themselves!" Amira decided, prying my hands off of her. "We stand a better chance of eluding them if we all go different ways."

"Should we meet back at my warbird?" Veritas suggested.

I had no idea how he'd dressed so quickly, but I suspected that there was some kind of sorcery involved.

"There are more places to hide inside this city than outside of it. We'll meet at the Bridge of Whispers after dark," Amira decided.

"And what about Roach?" I demanded.

"Those Dragonbloods have already got him!" Amira shook her head. "But it's you they're really after, so get out of here now!"

I didn't waste another moment. I went right out the window and leapt across the street onto the roof of another whorehouse with a large balcony which bore the name "The An-Tang Princess".

Soldiers followed me on the streets below, shouting and pointing. Arrows whizzed in my direction. Since I didn't have a weapon on hand, I instinctively threw my arms up in front of my chest, figuring that it was better to risk a broken bone than a gut wound that might kill me. Words flowed unbidden from my tongue and the arrows glanced harmlessly off my skin. Evidently, all of my secret training had paid off. I'd instinctively used a Charm to protect myself.

Stealth was impossible then. Though the mark on my brow wasn't burning, my skin glowed like new bronze. I thought maybe I had sufficient speed to escape my pursuers without killing anyone, but then Yarati landed effortlessly on the roof across from me. Of course, a Dragonblood would also be able to use Charms... to one of them, a twenty foot leap was child's play.

All my life, I'd been secretly jealous of those like Yarati - who never practiced and yet so easily succeeded where I had failed over and over again. It was Essence that gave them such mastery, a thing I had thought I would never possess myself. I'd believed for so long that their birthright made them my inherent superiors… but by the rationale of any Dynast, the strength to prevail would be granted to those who were Enlightened and morally righteous. And if strength alone was proof of divine favor as I had always been taught, then why should I cower before a Dragonblooded when I was far stronger than any of them could ever hope to be?

I effortlessly leapt to meet Yarati, something that definitely would have been impossible for any mere mortal. We stared at one another for a long moment.

"I always knew there was something wrong with you!" Yarati laughed slightly. "But to think, all of this time you've been hiding amongst us, a serpent in our camp!" He'd been one of the officers upset by my hard-earned promotion. Personally, I'd always felt that he lacked the discipline to lead, just as my brother Jaret had. I was afraid, and the idea of killing a man I had once served with did not sit well with me. Of course, behaving like a wounded prey animal would do nothing to strengthen my position, so I met his gaze.

"I was trying to protect all of you!" I snapped. "I'm no monster, Yarati... and you damn well know that! As a matter of fact, when I first came to the Winds, I believe it was you who said that I didn't have enough backbone to kill anyone."

"Times have changed, clearly!" He replied.

"Yes, they have," I agreed. "I have no reason to be afraid of you any more." Of course, I was still conflicted somewhat... I didn't consider myself an enemy of the Realm, and I did not believe my father or Mnemon Rai were anything less than exemplary men, but I was beginning to suspect that they were a rarity amongst the Dragonblooded.

"I shall gladly kill you, Anathema!" Yarati sneered. He tried to strike at me and I dodged his blade.

"What, aren't you going to use your demon powers on me?" Yarati demanded.

"I'm not a demon!" I replied.

He swung at me again and I stopped his blade on my forearm, just as I had stopped the hail of arrows sent upon me before. There was a telling flash of gold, but it was gone like an exploding firework before anyone on the ground could have seen it.

Yarati cursed as I effortlessly disarmed him, seized him by the throat and held him over the edge of the rooftop over the street. His men turned their bows on me but did not fire.

"I want you to remember this moment, and I want you to think about it. Right now I could kill you. It would be very, very easy and with the way that you've always treated me, I can't say that I wouldn't enjoy it just a little. But I am not going to do it! I want you to tell everyone that I didn't kill you when I damn well could have! Regardless of what you think, I am still the same Cathak Loren! I earned the right to be named your commanding officer! I recruited half the soldiers now in your Talon! How many times did I draw my sword to guard your back in all the years that we fought together? Think about that, and believe me when I say that I am not your enemy!"

"Lies!" Yarati spat. "You're a demon! Every word you speak is a lie! "

"You want to talk about lies?" I lowered my eyes for a moment, reminding myself that I really didn't want to break Yarati's neck, even though he probably deserved it. If I could escape the Ravenous Winds without drawing my sword once, I wasn't about to let less than a dozen men force me to bloodshed.

"Let me tell you about some _lies!_ " Despite the panic that I knew I would cause, I called up the mark on my brow. Yarati gritted his teeth.

"The word you're looking for isn't "Anathema", it's _Solar_. Get used to it," Very slowly, I set him on his feet, squeezing his windpipe just enough that he collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath. I stopped for a little longer than I should have. There was something about seeing my old tormentor, a Dragonblood on his knees, looking up at me in abject terror that brought me crashing back into the role of my former self with a force that made me dizzy.

"And get used to that position too," I knew I had made my point, I'd said and done more than enough... but lording over that fool was still tremendously satisfying. I was reminded of Veritas's callous words. What had he said that Dragonbloods were?

 _Slaves_ _and_ _cannon_ _fodder._

At that moment, though not for the first time, I was more than a little afraid of myself.

Still, before Yarati could recover or order his men to regroup, I'd run most of the way across rooftops to the edge of the Nighthammer District where I hoped the smoke of the forges would hide me. I sat in an alcove and watched barges drifting down the river until I was certain that no one was following after me.

Then I climbed down a drain pipe and decided to find somewhere to wait until dark. I worried incessantly about Amira and Veritas, and particularly Roach who couldn't exactly defend himself. I hated that I had left him behind, but I couldn't deny that Amira was right... there was no way Yarati would allow any harm to come to such a valuable prisoner. He probably suspected that Roach had been my accomplice all along, and was parley to many more of my "secrets" than he actually was.

I hoped they wouldn't do anything drastic to try to coax information out of him and racked my brain to think of any weakness I could exploit in the Wind's camp.

I traded my clothes to a beggar who seemed surprised that I wanted to give him a perfectly good shirt in exchange for his ratty hooded cloak, but I knew for certain that the only way I was getting back into Harlotry would be in disguise. For good measure, I rubbed ash and river muck on my face and arms until I stank like the dead. Everyone on the street gave me a wide berth, and I knew my ruse was working.

I smiled slightly to myself as I thought of how both Roach and Amira had accused me of being incapable of subterfuge. Little did they know, but no Solar hides in the Imperial City for the better part of ten years without acquiring a certain mastery of appearing lowly and insignificant. My disguise seemed to have its desired effect on the members of the Winds who were still loitering around Anathema's, but as I reached the bridge I heard a familiar snicker and realized that Amira was not fooled. At fist I didn't see her, but then a soot gray dog of nondescript origins bounded across my path. Not far away, another muck-covered beggar sat, holding out a tin cup for alms. I sat beside him without hesitation, as if the two of us together would attempt to ward off the growing cold. Amira bounded over to Veritas and watched him with interest, wagging her tail innocently. He tried to shoo her away, but I decided to scratch her behind the ears. She immediately flopped on her back and put her belly in the air. It was so easy to believe that she was a dog that I had to remind myself that I was actually dealing with a brilliant and dangerous woman who would never let me live down anything that I said or did, not in more than a thousand years.

"You smell awful. Worse than your dog," Veritas whispered after the soldiers passed us by.

His caste mark was flickering. So was mine.

"You're no rosebud yourself. What did you roll in? Do I want to know?" I retorted.

"You're late. Heartsblood was getting worried," he added.

"If that imbecile intends to kill me, he's going to need more men," I replied.

"You know, this feels familiar. You and I, wallowing in mud, expecting to be slaughtered. Now was that the Usurpation or the War?" Veritas spoke in Old Realm. Just hearing that language left me feeling transported.

"The War," I replied, speaking in Old Realm myself. "Although you and I have been in this same unfortunate position at least a dozen times."

"A dozen times?" Recluse gaped at me. "Were we Exalts or pigs in our previous lives? Oh, gods! We were pigs, weren't we?"

"Sun-in-Glory, Recluse... was that a joke?" His peculiar dramatic oath felt right, somehow, like something I'd always said. I sighed heavily and looked out over the brown river. I could remember how the valley had looked once, and seeing it in such a state made me feel very old and very tired.

"I have a soft spot for this bridge," Veritas admitted. "Of course, I did build it. And there's not much left in this city that still dates from our time."

 _Our_ _time_. How _right_ that sounded!

"I wish I could remember things like you do," he paused.

"Well, the river was three times wider than it is now," I pointed. "And blue, a perfect, cerulean blue. The first dam was over there, where that cliff has collapsed into the water. All the fields were green. No swamp rice back then!" I laughed. "No ironworks either. This was supposed to be our pastoral paradise. An escape from all the hustle and bustle of Meru."

"Ah, Meru!" Veritas smiled. "What was it like?"

"Like everything you can imagine. And more," I replied.

"I don't know how you tolerate it," Veritas admitted. "I thought you were fortunate at first, but now I'm beginning to wonder. How can you live in this filth when you can remember how it used to be? I've only read about the past, and the present disgusts me! After those meddling Sidereals tinkered with my brains, I woke up wanting to kill them all... and they even warned me before they started that I might not like what I remembered! How did we fall so far?"

"I ask myself that same question all the time," I admitted. "I wish I had an answer for you."

"Mm. Fair enough. Though I must say, Faeslayer, that bit on the roof this morning, with you and the Dragonblood? Spectacular! I'm not sure why you didn't drop him. He would certainly would have survived the fall. Then again, part of me did enjoy it more, just watching him squirm," Veritas smirked.

"You're venomous sometimes, you know that?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I did get the name "Recluse" for a reason," he replied with a self-satisfied smirk. "And with some of the things I've learned lately..." He sighed heavily. "Well, I suppose you might say I've discovered incentive to use my fangs."

Amira sighed in exasperation, butting between the two of us. I hadn't noticed when she changed back to her usual self, but she looked absolutely idiotic lying on the ground staring up at me in the exact same position she had occupied in her dog form.

"We should start looking for Roach now," I paused, guessing already that neither Veritas nor Amira would be happy to hear that I wanted to put all of us back into the fire we'd only narrowly escaped.

"Why?" Amira demanded.

"Because I'm not leaving him in Yarati's hands. That man is a fiend and he hates Roach with a passion... almost as much as he hates me." I finished. "I'm going for him, with or without your help."

"I suppose you have a plan?" Veritas wondered.

"I don't know the situation yet. But I suspect that we'll have to trick our way into the Wind's camp and probably fight our way out," I admitted.

"I could turn you in?" Amira grinned wickedly. With a slight gesture, she changed her appearance, taking the face and form of a male Fire-Aspect Dragonblood. I tried to shake off how familiar she looked and wondered, not for the first time... how closely she had followed me when I first returned to the Blessed Isle.

"And then what?" I demanded, trying to underplay the fact that Amira was standing over the two of us in the form of a man, and a Dragonblood at that! I wasn't sure which was more disturbing.

"Have you ever heard of a little knack called Mountainous Spirit Expression?" She asked.

Veritas blanched. It was obvious that he had a better idea of what Amira had "planned" than I did, and he didn't look exactly thrilled by her proposal.

"Please, tell me that you're not actually suggesting that we give ourselves up to the Wyld Hunt while you change yourself into some bloody enormous monster and stomp Mnemon Rai's entire camp?" Veritas exploded. "Faeslayer, your dog is insane!"

"I'm not a dog, and you damn well know it!" Amira snapped, resuming her usual form. "Frankly, I don't know why we're going after Roach like this, all firewands-a-blazing!" Amira snorted. "It's risky, and it's not like he's in any real danger. We all that Mnemon Rai won't execute your lackey. It's you he's after."

"Roach is not my lackey, and he's not my pet! He _was_ my student, but that was more than ten years ago!" I sighed. I'd lost track of how many times I'd made that argument and it still didn't seem to hold any weight. "He is my friend, and he's only in this mess because of me!" I replied stiffly.

"I suppose that's that. But if we are going to rescue Roach, we need to go about it intelligently. I personally object to Heartsblood's plan, on account of it being suicidal." Veritas replied.

"I second that," I nodded.

"You've got a better idea?" Amira demanded.

"I might," I took a deep breath. "But the three of us can't pull it off alone. We're going to need help."

"Well, we've got Viper." Amira volunteered. "She's still beating herself up about letting the Wyld Hunt walk out of her bar with Roach in tow. Of course, if she'd put up too much of a fight they would have gotten wise and arrested her too. And um... I love Viper dearly, but she really doesn't do subtle."

"When I said "help", I was actually thinking more specifically about Quill," I admitted.

"Oh!" Amira exclaimed, covering her mouth to conceal the gleeful grin that spread across her face as she realized what I was suggesting.

"Oh?" Veritas pressed.

"Quill is going to turn me in to Yarati like Amira suggested. I sincerely doubt that Yarati has told Old Thunderstormer that he's captured anyone yet. Yarati is going to wait until he's got me... because only that will make him the big hero." I explained. "He wants to use Roach to draw me out himself."

"Hm. I don't understand. Why is it Quill who turns you in and not Amira?" Veritas pressed. "I feel compelled to say this, but I trust him somewhat less than I trust her." He jerked his thumb at Amira who beamed.

"Well, after what I've just seen her do, I think that Amira should pretend to be Quill's superior. Maybe an ousted Gens of Lookshy, to give Yarati another reason to be a little paranoid while dealing with her. We'll say she's a Taimyo, but we won't actually give her a name. That way, everybody will be watching her, trying to guess who the Dragonblooded who subdued the terrible demon really is. Of course, she'll insist that Quill do the negotiating, because well, it's beneath her to personally deal with someone like Yarati. He may be a Dragonblood, but he was born to a patrician family and adopted by House Ledaal. They mostly consider him to be a lousy investment," I explained.

"How do you know all of this?" Veritas demanded.

"I handled all of Mnemon Rai's paperwork for years. I can tell you anything you want to know about every last member of the Winds. If we're going to have a Wyld Hunt on our trail, we couldn't ask for an easier one to exploit." I informed him. "I don't know why I never realized this before, but there certainly are a lot of weak links in that chain of command."

"Are you sure you're not Night Caste?" Veritas raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"You both know I'm hopeless when it comes to lying. Which means this ruse will work much better if I don't do any talking at all. See, what it basically boils down to is that Quill, speaking on behalf of Amira is going to ask for a trade. Roach for me."

"A known Solar in exchange for one turncoat mortal soldier? That's preposterous, no one will believe it!" Veritas protested.

"Well, Yarati doesn't want everyone in Nexus to know I'm here already or he'll have competition trying to claim my head. I'm sure Mnemon Rai has forbidden all of the Winds from telling anyone what I am, though _how_ and _why_ is something I'm still trying to sort out. And Amira's also going to want a huge pile of money," I paused. "But she's also going to be insistent on getting Roach out of the deal because she's... very, very fond of him. Of course, Roach is going to freak out because he's got no idea who this huge, hairy man is. Recluse, you stay just as you look now... a filthy, nasty beggar. That should put you in an ideal position oversee everything. Roach will be handed over to Amira, I'll be handed over to Yarati. Then Quill will insist that Yarati makes this whole thing a gentleman's agreement... nothing in writing, which is how Yarati wants it anyway. Quill will ask Yarati to promise that "himself", "his employer" and "his employer's lover" will be allowed to return to the city. Yarati will think Roach is "the lover" and he will _adore_ that because he despises Roach. But since Amira is our "employer", her lover would technically be _me_."

"Of course, Yarati will insist that we don't tell Old Thunderstormer that we ever talked, so we'll all agree that none of us present will say anything about what's transpired. We'll swear that we never met, that no money changed hands and no prisoners were ever set free. Quill and Yarati will shake on it... and then we all walk out. Yarati will be too stunned to do anything, and if he doesn't give a direct order... well, let's just say that most of the men who serve under him are not the type that want to be heroes."

"Just one problem." Veritas paused. "How do you know that Quill will go along with this? You're asking him to reveal himself as a Solar to one of the officers of the largest Wyld Hunts in Creation."

"An officer who will then be bound under Heaven to deny that he ever paid him off or let us all go? Quill will do it." I smiled slightly, certain of my guess. "He's going to think it's hysterical."


	24. Chapter 23 - More Mischief (Loren)

**Chapter** **23**

 **More** **Mischief**

"So that's the plan." I finished, after telling Quill everything that I had worked out in my head. Veritas, Amira, and I had gone to meet Quill at his official "office" on the edge of the Big Market, a ramshackle old building filled to the brim with stacks of disorganized paperwork and expired permits.

The state of the place was absolutely terrifying until one realized that Quill had deliberately created the mess specifically to keep the public expectation of forward progress at an absolute minimum. He had lovingly cultivated an environment of bureaucratic futility in his workplace and had thereby ensured his own job security for centuries to come. Being a sometimes paper-pusher myself, I was left in awe of deviousness and somewhat shocked by his apathy.

"What do you think?" I pressed. "Are you in?"

Quill mused over everything he had heard for a moment and then a grin spread across his face.

"Oh, I'm in! It's _hysterical_! I love it! I love it, I love it!" He paused. "Though I do seem to remember that you were supposed to be doing a job for _me_?"

"This has nothing to do with that. Our previous agreement still stands. I'll investigate Nagezzer for you and find out anything I can about girls being sold to the Fae. Believe me, I don't want anyone in the hands of the Red Queen." I shook my head heavily. "But we've got to help Roach first before Yarati turns him over to Mnemon Rai. Old Thunderstormer is not someone you want to match wits with. He'd see through this ruse in a heartbeat. Fortunately for us, Yarati is too obsessed with his own status to even look at anyone who isn't a Dragonblood. He'll fall for it."

"There's some risk involved, obviously." Veritas hesitated for a moment. I could tell he still had some misgivings. I had a few myself, but I was more worried about what would happen to Roach if we didn't act right away than I was worried about saving my own skin. "Our "story" has more than a few holes." He admitted.

"Have you ever heard the phrase "Good enough for government work?" If the people you're dealing with are fools, it doesn't have to be _perfect_!" Quill argued. A spark of recognition lit suddenly in his eyes. "Gods, no wonder all of this sounds so familiar! You're Perfect, aren't you!" He exclaimed, turning to Veritas.

"That was my name once." Veritas smiled slightly, obviously pleased to be recognized as his previous self.

"Which must mean… _Alexander_?" Quill's normally broad grin widened considerable. "Hah! So the rumors were true!"

"Rumors?" I raised an eyebrow skeptically in his direction.

"The fae are in a state of panic. I haven't seen them so disorganized in a very long time! There isn't much that they are afraid of, and even less that they respect." Quill explained. "And let me tell you, all of the jabbering I've heard has left me absolutely convinced that from a fae perspective… you are the most terrifying thing ever to walk the face of Creation. Since the Great Contagion they've made leaps and bounds, expanding back into the lands your previous incarnation once chased them out of. They're afraid that they're going to lose everything they've gained. Heh. That is what you're planning, isn't it?"

"To chase the fae out of Creation, and kill as many of them as I have to? More or less." I nodded.

"Well, normally I would say that you were being a bit hasty… but frankly, I'm feeling a little more courageous than usual, especially now that I know they've taken Sapphire prisoner," he paused. "Let me tell you, I am _sick_ _to_ _death_ of having the Red Queen poking around this city and would not object at all to seeing her tossed back into the Deep Wyld for the Unshaped to gnaw on." Quill replied brightly. "Ah, it is a bit like old times, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid that I don't actually remember you." I admitted. It seemed strange to say such a thing. The more I spoke with him, the more I knew him… and yet at the same time, I didn't know him at all. "Who were you in the past? Many-Starred Cloak?" I suggested, using the name of the Eclipse Caste who had been a member of the same circle as Perfect and Alexander during the First Age. It was only natural that his new incarnation would have found its way to Nexus just as the two of us had.

"Several lifetimes ago. I hold the dubious distinction of being the most-often slain member of our Circle. I'd prefer that you just call me Quill." He replied. "Though I suppose you could use my old moniker from the Society… that is, if you remember it."

Veritas and I glanced at one another momentarily.

"Heh. Looks like the tables have turned, Circlemates! You two old folks are now the young'uns and me, the kid… now the old man." Quill laughed, putting an arm around each of us. "I might be enjoying this just a little."

"And just how old are you?" I demanded. He looked about thirty, but from what I had learned about the average lifespan of Solar Exalts, I knew that didn't mean anything at all.

"I've no idea," he said. He looked not much more than thirty, but there had been an Emissary in Nexus for over seven-hundred years. We had no way of knowing how old Quill really was, but it seemed safest to assume that he'd been Exalted longer than either Veritas or myself. "Anyway, it's irrelevant. Now you were saying something before about utterly humiliating a bunch of Dragonbloods. I'm afraid I'm rather fixated on _that!_ " Quill smirked, resting his chin on his folded hands. A jester's cap would not have looked out of place on his head and I wondered briefly if getting him involved would turn out to be a tremendous mistake.

I had another thought also, but before I could say a word, Veritas spoke for me.

"You mentioned the Three Circles Society?" Veritas pressed.

I knew what that was. I bit down on my tongue and tried not to look alarmed.

"But of course!" Quill exclaimed. "I've heard you two bantering! "Faeslayer" this, "Recluse" that! If Shadowsbane and Heart-of-Gold were here, I'd have to strangle myself! Fifteen hundred years and it's as if no time has passed at all!" He laughed.

"So you were a sorcerer too?" I hazarded a guess.

"What do you mean "were"?" Quill eyed me skeptically.

"You _are_ a sorcerer then?" Veritas observed. "Good. Perhaps you can help me convince Faeslayer that he needs to begin studying the Art. How far have you mastered?"

"Far enough." Quill replied with a smug smile on his face.

"Sapphire Circle?" Veritas pressed.

Quill only pointed at the ceiling.

"No!" Veritas protested, sounding absolutely incredulous. "Sun-in-Glory, you can actually do it? Adamant Circle Sorcery? With power like that… you could practically terraform pure chaos!"

"Why, my dear Circlemates… who do you think keeps all of the Wyld in this city inside of Firewander?" Quill laughed.

Taking us each by the arm again, he walked us into the nearest bar.

I can't remember the rest of the conversation that Quill and I had that evening, but sometime before midnight I found that I had a sick sort of feeling weighing heavily on my heart. I suspected that Quill had probably convinced both Veritas and myself to do all kinds of things we were going to regret. As charismatic as he was, he was also dangerous and neither of us really knew anything about him.

According to Amira, Solars had only started returning in large numbers in the year that I was born, after the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress. There were a few who had been around for about a hundred years, but none that she was aware of who were older than that. The fact that Quill claimed to have mastered Adamant Circle Sorcery was troubling enough, especially since he had proven himself to be every bit as mad and reckless as I had feared he might be.

Since timing was crucial, the four of us decided to put our plan into action before the sun came up. Quill had decided that the event called for a drink and had bought himself more bottles of wine than any being, mortal or otherwise, had any business consuming over the course of one night.

He was nursing the last bottle as he staggered into Yarati's tent, Amira marching along behind him with me in chains. The chains had come from one of Viper's so-named "play-rooms" and were not nearly as strong as they appeared, which would be advantageous to us if things went south and ended in an actual fight. As planned, Veritas had resumed his filthy beggar guise and was pleading for coins from any soldier who came too close to him, smudging something too foul to consider on the hems of their crisp blue and white uniforms.

"What's this?" Yarati demanded, obviously caught off guard as we entered.

"I've caught a demon. I hear you've been looking for one," Amira replied, sounding exactly how she appeared… like a middle-aged Dynast who carried a little extra weight.

Yarati smiled as he saw me. I scowled at him.

"Not so arrogant now, are we?" Yarati taunted. "You know, you _were_ a good soldier once, but you are a pathetic Anathema! Captured by one old man?"

Amira frowned. Since her very mission in life seemed to follow me wherever I went, she obviously disliked hearing my growing "reputation" belittled.

"Ahem," Quill cleared his throat. "My employer, the Taimyo will not be addressed as "Old Man". He finds this term objectionable. You will not use it again, or he will go directly to your commanding officer with his prisoner." Whether it was because of the amount of alcohol he had consumed, or because he thought it would add to the character he was playing, Quill drunkenly staggered into Yarati's desk. When Yarati grimaced, Amira cleared her throat again.

"My apologies, Taimyo," Yarati paused. "You had an offer for me?"

"One that my employer thinks you will not refuse," Quill replied. "You have in your possession a certain young Southerner whom I believe you are holding because of a peculiar connection he has to this Anathema that my employer has captured. My employer wishes to trade the Anathema for this young man."

"Roach?" Yarati blinked in disbelief.

"And of course, a substantial finder's fee," Quill finished.

"How much does he want?" Yarati asked.

Quill turned to Amira, the two of them conversed briefly and in a very serious tone… and then Quill wrote some number on a scrap of paper and showed it to Yarati. I did not see how much it said, but I suspected from Yarati's reaction that it was a fairly big number.

"Twenty percent?" He suggested.

"Absurd!" Quill barked in protest. "Thirty five!"

"Thirty?" Yarati looked nervous.

"Forty-five! No less!" Quill finished. "A gentleman's agreement, then? Shall we shake on it?"

"Not so fast." Yarati shook his head. "If word of this gets out… I'm not sure how it will be perceived."

"We'll swear to secrecy then. Since you currently have us at a disadvantage, you'll promise that my employer, myself and my employer's lover may leave your camp peacefully without being fired upon or followed. You'll guarantee our safe return through the gates of Nexus. And we'll all agree that none of us present here will say anything about what's transpired. We'll swear that we never met, that no money changed hands and no prisoners were ever set free." Quill recited. "Do you agree to the terms?"

"I do," Yarati nodded, taking Quill's hand. He must have noticed that something was wrong immediately because he tried to pull away. I knew from experience that Quill had an iron grip.

"Then let ours be an honorable oath, sealed under Heaven," He smirked. Yarati stared in horror at the mark which appeared on his brow.

"Anathema? Seize them!" Yarati shouted.

The ground rumbled beneath our feet, and everyone froze, staring at one another in shock.

Quill wagged a disapproving finger at the Dragonblood. "Not so fast! We're bound now by Heaven now, you and I. I trust that you know the consequences of breaking such an oath?"

Yarati paled.

"Right then, come along, Faeslayer!" Quill bowed dramatically. I effortlessly broke the chain on my cuffs and went to join him.

"What's the meaning of this?" Yarati demanded. "Who the hell are you, Taimyo, that you associate with demons?"

Amira resumed her usual appearance. "Boo!" She replied with a wicked smirk. "C'mon boys, off we go!"

True to their oath, not one of Yarati's men attempted to follow us or shoot at us. But long after we made it through the city gates, I could still hear them cursing. Veritas wore a very smug smile on his face. His construct giggled, obviously enjoying the trouble we'd just caused.

"You know." Quill said, as we parted ways in the Big Market. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Within moments he was gone.

"We should not trust him." Godchaser announced. The construct didn't say much normally – at least not in my presence, though I often heard Veritas jabbering with her nonstop in Old Realm when the rest of us were occupied.

"Your construct is right." I agreed, turning to Veritas. "Quill is a madman and he is going to get us all killed."

"All the more reason to investigate Nagezzer as soon as possible and get you out of his oath." Amira nodded solemnly.

Roach smiled slightly.

"What?" I demanded.

"You guys rescued me," he replied.

"You didn't think we would?" I put my hands on my hips, doing a fair impression of my Mnemon Rai when he felt compelled to lecture one someone. Roach laughed.

"Don't be stupid, Boss. I know you goaded the rest of them into it!" He jerked his thumb at Amira. "I was just thinking that I'd better stick close to you from now on. I know it's going to be dangerous, but..."

"But?" Veritas raised an eyebrow at Roach.

"After what happened back there?" Roach laughed. "They're going to think I'm _one_ _of_ _you_."

Amira glanced around to be sure that no one was listening in on us. "We shouldn't all stay together, at least not until this whole thing blows over. I'm going let Viper know we're all in one piece. Try finding beds somewhere in Fishmarket or Glassmaker's. I'll see you all in the morning at the bridge."

Without another word, she kissed me, changed into her stray dog form and bounded away.

Veritas shrugged and struck out on his own. Roach glanced up at me hopefully, as if I had a plan.

"Looks like it's just you and me," I told him.

He punched me in the shoulder. "Like old times!" Roach winked.

Dawn on the Bridge of Whispers was something not to be missed. Though Roach was annoyed by my desire to get up before the sun, he grudgingly admitted that it did paint a beautiful picture as it rose over the river and started to wake all of Nexus. I tried to hide the fact that there were tears welling up in the corners of my eyes. It felt like a very long time since my morning on the mountaintop when I'd stood in the presence of the sun and first began to question whether I was damned or Chosen.

Now that I was certain of the latter, I could feel those early morning rays pouring through and warming every corner of my soul as if I were made of clear glass. It seemed like a long time since I'd last dreamt of the First Age. Had those dreams of mine been meant to drive me to the life I was now living? Would I never again see the world as I remembered it so clearly? As if to answer my question, the sun's light caught the river in a peculiar way, making it look almost blue again. If I wanted to bring back that glorious world, I'd have to do more than wish for it. I'd have to work until my own knuckles bled and make it so.

Veritas arrived first, sipping a cup of coffee. He rested his elbows on the bridge rail and looked out over the river himself. Godchaser sighed dramatically and he didn't bother to scold her. Though he usually twitched and looked irate when she revealed herself in public, it would have been a disservice to the Unconquered Sun to start fighting when he was in the midst of painting such a lovely scene for the three... or "four" of us, counting the construct, to witness.

Amira arrived an hour later with a grin on her face and two fresh, hot loaves of bread. It seemed like it had been a very long time since I'd eaten anything and I must have wolfed down more than my fair share because Veritas eyed me with disapproval. After our breakfast, we agreed to infiltrate Nagezzer's compound in the evening. Viper had informed Amira that "the Slug" was throwing a party. If the lot of us posed as guests, we could potentially conduct our investigation without drawing any attention at all to ourselves. With our plan set out, we parted ways again.

It was early evening, not quite sunset when the four of us met up again near the wall surrounding Nagezeer's compound. Even though his warehouse loomed over us, we had to take extra care to avoid being seen. There were a number of people gathering for the party that "the Slug" was hosting, which was why Viper had suggested that we plan our assault sometime before full dark. The more bodies that were mulling about, the better chance we had to hide ourselves if things didn't go according to plan.

"Roach and I will check out the main house. Veritas, you look in the warehouse for anything fae-tainted or anything you think might be a weapon. Amira, you're our eyes and ears out here. Make yourself a bird or something. If it looks like trouble is coming, raise the alarm."

Amira grinned broadly. I did not doubt that whatever she did to warn the rest of us would be loud and unmistakable.

"We'll meet back here in twenty minutes. If anyone doesn't come back by full dark, we'll assume that they've been captured." I finished.

Like thieves into the night, we scattered.

Getting into the party was much easier than I'd expected. Though Roach and I didn't know any of the guards, plenty of the men attending were mercenaries. Casually following in the footsteps of one arrogant-looking Bronze Pioneer with a large retinue, we pretended to be busy as we passed through the gates. Picking up some crates, we then followed the evening's entertainment – a crew of musicians and dancers into the main house. No one asked us anything. They assumed, probably because we were casually talking in High Realm... that we belonged in the Dynast's house. I had to admit, the part of the plan where we acted like part of the party had been a stroke of genius.

I reminded Amira several times that the plan had been Roach's idea. He _was_ clever and useful, whether she thought he was or not.

While getting into the house was simple enough, the security outside of the areas designated for the party was much trickier. To distract a guard standing in front of one of the doors that led upstairs, Roach took a handful of pebbles and started flicking them down the hall. When the man moved to investigate the source of the noise, the two of us slipped behind him.

Though we knew we were looking for evidence of the girls or the fae, it was difficult to find either. There were obviously a number of women living in Nagezzer's house, but even the one that Roach and I initially thought was a prisoner turned out to be a one of Viper's girls chained to the wall for "entertainment purposes" and not at all upset about her situation.

It was very nearly time for us to meet back with Veritas and Amira when we stumbled across a cracked door on the third floor. There were several men inside, all dressed in the colors of House Sesus. Sitting in front of them on a red plush couch was a hideously obese old Dragonblood, a Wood-Aspect whom I did not doubt was Sesus "the Slug" Nagezzer. He puffed on his pipe and narrowed his beady little eyes at his underlings, looking annoyed.

"Well?" He demanded.

"We delivered the new girl to the bakery as you ordered, sir." The first of the men admitted. "But..." He began.

"She give you trouble? I suspected she might. I've heard things about that Shadowsbane. With what the whores all say about her... you'd think she would have been harder to catch." The Slug sighed.

"That's just the thing, sir." The second guard shook his head. "She was no trouble at all. Walked all nice like, even though she didn't have no shoes on. It was almost as if she wanted us to take her inside."

"That's nonsense. You're giving that woman far too much credit. Shadowsbane may be a spitfire, but she knows damn well that she doesn't stand a chance against the Red Queen." The Slug scoffed.

"And what should we do about Three Pearls, sir? She's been asking questions." The first man asked.

"Tell her nothing. She can't prove that we took her daughter and I don't need that witch breathing down my neck," the Slug replied. "This will all be over soon enough. Now see to the animal and report back to me."

I'd heard enough. Careful not to give away our location, Roach and I ran back to meet Veritas and Amira behind the warehouse. When they weren't at our appointed meeting place, I decided to pry the doors open just slightly to see if they were still inside. I saw them immediately, Amira in her dog form and Veritas right beside her, hiding behind a crate. Looking like a ghost, his construct poked her head out to see whatever they were looking at.

"Maker?" She whispered.

"Quiet, Godchaser!" Veritas scolded.

Standing in the aisle of the warehouse before a set of enormous doors was a very old Water-Aspect Dragonblood. He was dressed all in black with strings of pearls around his neck and gold rings on every one of his fingers. He also had more weapons on his person than I could count. I suspected right away that he was a professional rogue of one stripe or another. The fact that he'd taken out two House Sesus guards with one of his arms in a sling meant that he wasn't someone to be trifled with.

Unfortunately, my entrance proved not to be very stealthy. The Dragonblood immediately noticed Roach and I standing in the doorway and then caught sight of Godchaser.

"Heh," the Dragonblood smirked. "Now there's a sight for sore eyes!"

"Oh, Maker! It's Jing Wei!" Godchaser exclaimed.

"Jing Wei?" Veritas seemed equally surprised. He stood up and walked towards the Dragonblood but didn't go for a weapon. Obviously the two of them were well acquainted. "What are you doing here?"

"Investigating "the Slug"." He remarked with distaste. "Word has it, he's up to something unscrupulous."

"Since when have you cared about anyone keeping their hands clean, _pirate_?" Veritas taunted.

"Feh! Why are you here, _demon_? Mysterious Anathema business?" Jing Wei retorted, a smile on his face.

I was stunned. The Dragonblood knew that Veritas was a Solar? But they seemed like friends!

"Same reason as you," I replied, butting my way into their conversation. "Sesus Nagezzer has been kidnapping girls. He's been turning them over to the Red Queen who has them locked up in some place that everyone keeps calling ' _The Bakery_ '."

"I _know,_ " Jing Wei gritted his teeth. Apparently he'd gotten the same information we did and he didn't like it either.

"Well, we'd better hurry and do whatever it is we're going to do. The Slug's men will be here any minute to feed that animal." I stared up at the enormous doors in front of us. There was something just beyond them, and it was breathing very loudly. Whatever it was, it sounded huge. "What is in there anyway?" I asked.

Jing Wei explained. "It's called a "Beast of Resplendent Liquids". A cow which produces large quantities of very pure opium instead of milk. If we set loose that animal somewhere nearby where everyone can see it... that will immediately confirm Nagezzer's dealings with the fae. And the resulting fallout should also distract the Red Queen at least long enough for us to get to _The Bakery_ and rescue the girls she's taken."

"Hold on, _we_?" I demanded. After my bargain with Quill, I definitely didn't want to jump into any more agreements with strangers, particular when they wanted to commit a crime.

"I know where the Bakery is, and I can lead you there, but I'm going to need help to pull this off. The place is swarming with fae, and I'm in no position to fight them right now," Jing Wei admitted grudgingly, gesturing to his arm. "You demons might actually do some damage."

"And considering how we've worked together in past, my friends and I _may_ be willing to help you," Veritas interrupted before I could respond. "Of course, that is going to hedge on you not calling us demons!" He reprimanded. "Sun-in-Glory, you know damned well what we are!"

The old Water Aspect smiled slightly. "That Rhapsody rubbed off on you, didn't she? Where is she at anyway? She'd be useful right about now."

"I haven't seen her in months," Veritas admitted, not looking very happy about the situation Jing Wei had brought up.

"What did I tell you? A woman like that has a scorpion stinger!" Jing Wei sighed.

"All right. Let's get down to business!" Roach rolled up his sleeves. "I'm going to show all you how this is done."

"Oh?" Amira raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"I'm an expert on cattle rustling!" He claimed.

"Roach, you were ten years old when you left the South!" I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, so I never personally stole any cattle! But I'm still Murqai! It's in my blood!" He argued.

Jing Wei laughed. Veritas still seemed concerned, and not only by the mention of "Rhapsody" whom I suspected had been a former lover of his.

"Wait a minute. Where's Matsu?" Veritas asked the old Dragonblood. The name meant nothing to me, but the expression that crossed Jing Wei's face was unmistakable. Whoever she was, Matsu was very important to him, someone he would do anything to protect.

Jing Wei sighed heavily. "Demon, why do you think I'm in this mess?"

"I suppose it's no small thing for a Prince of the Earth to willingly work with Anathema." I paused, watching his reaction. "How do we know you won't betray us?"

Jing Wei only shrugged. "I deal in secrets for a living. Everyone has them, and some are worse than others. Better the demon you know," he gestured to Veritas.

"I trust him. Jing Wei will keep his word, and he won't be running to the authorities. If possible... I think the Realm hates him more than it hates us," Veritas nodded slowly. "As he says, better the demon you know."

"This just keeps getting more and more complicated," I remarked with distaste.

"Will one of you give us a hand with these doors?" Jing Wei demanded, pulling along with Roach. He stopped short as he noticed that I'd already opened the opposite door by myself. I hadn't realized that they were supposed to be heavy.

"Damn you, demons. Making me look bad!" He remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Now you four get that cow out of here and into the river. I'm going for my ship. We'll probably need it before this night is through. At least the implosion bows anyway. Be careful, you! Can't have anyone cutting off your branded head until I rescue my baby girl!" Jing Wei warned Veritas, who sighed heavily. Then he swiftly disappeared into the night.

"How did you two meet?" I asked Veritas.

"Jing Wei helped me escape the Blessed Isle," Veritas replied.

"A good friend then," I observed.

"Not always. When he found out that I was a Solar, he originally wanted to throw me into the sea," Veritas smirked. "But we're past that now."

"You know, that's actually reassuring," I admitted.

"How so?" Veritas raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"You have a friend who's a Dragonblood. Until recently, all of my friends were Dragonbloods. I was born into a Dynast household. I've spent my entire life with the Ravenous Winds. My father is Dragonlord Cathak Chiron," I sighed heavily. "I'm his oldest son. If I'd Exalted myself, I would have been his heir."

Veritas gave me a strange look at the sound of my father's name, but he said nothing.

"But you _are_ Exalted! You're a Solar!" Godchaser protested. Veritas sighed as the construct hovered over in my direction, looking extremely irate.

"And that's why I'm obviously not _inheriting_ anything!" I informed her.

"You'd rather be a Dragonblood?" The construct demanded. Her tone suggested that she couldn't conceive of anything more absurd.

"I never said that!" I argued. Clearly, there was no way to explain to the construct that I _did_ miss my family, and that while I never expected that things would ever return to the way they had been, I still hoped that one day I would be able to see my father again.

Amira said nothing, but she gave me a disapproving look.

"There must be something wrong with you if you want to be a Dragonblood. You should let my Maker fix you!" Godchaser decided.

"Godchaser!" Veritas scolded.

"Can we please just steal this cow?" I demanded. Godchaser led the way into the back of the warehouse. Veritas followed her, Amira and I followed him, and Roach followed us.

My eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness. I could smell the scent of flowers, and something else, a strong animal musk. The sound of the creature chewing its fodder was like the rumble of thunder on the horizon.

"What is that?" I stared up in disbelief at the creature, its legs like tree trunks. It was shackled to the ground with the most impressive set of jade chains that I had ever seen.

Roach cracked his knuckles. "Moo," he said.

"How are we getting it out of here?" I demanded. That was when I heard the sound of Nagezzer's men fast approaching. They hadn't arrived as quickly as I expected they would, but they were definitely running now. Someone had heard us arguing - or maybe caught Jing Wei running off.

"We've got company!" I shouted.

"Stall them!" Veritas hissed. He picked up the first length of jade chain and spoke a single word in Old Realm. Essence flared from his fingertips and the chain cracked – but not completely through. "This is going to take a minute!"

I barreled out the doors of the warehouse directly into Nagezzer's men. Not sure what I was running from, they hesitated for a moment and then whirled around and charged after me, yelling obscenities in Rivertongue and Low Realm.

I ignored them and effortlessly leapt twenty feet up onto the wall that surrounded the compound. The guards who were already up there almost lost their pikes in shock. They quickly recovered and chased me over to the gate. I looked down at the street below where a small crowd was gathering and then at the men coming after me from all directions.

I jumped. And as I fell, I invoked the Charm that Veritas had taught me. I reached for my daiklave with my mind, calling the blade. One moment I was empty-handed, about to fall fifty feet onto four guards with spears, and the next I was landing with a force that cracked the paving stones, clutching the hilt of my extraordinarily ostentatious sword. Though I wasn't flaring with Essence, someone figured out what was going on anyway and started yelling "Anathema".

Half of the men who'd been chasing me turned tail and bolted right away.

That was when the gates behind me came crashing down. There were a lot more men than I expected pouring out of Nagezzer's house. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Amira in her largest wolf form, biting at the hooves of the cow, which despite its enormous size behaved exactly like any of its ordinary brethren would have, snorting and bellowing. The creature was so large that it tore a piece from the roof with its horns as it stampeded through the gate. Two small figures bounced up and down on the enormous animal's back. One was Veritas, clinging on for dear life.

The second, who held the jade chain wrapped around the animal's horns… was Roach. He rode that enormous beast as if it were a green pony, a wicked and triumphant grin on his face. He threw one fist in the air with an incoherent Murqai war cry.

"Anathema!" Someone else shouted. I wasn't sure if they were yelling at Amira or me, so I did the only sensible thing I could do. I started running in the wake of the cow, which was stampeding in the direction of the Bridge of Whispers, clearing the streets of revelers.

On the opposite side of the river, early evening was prime business time for the theater district. More people than I could count witnessed the creature bursting out of Nagezzer's compound. Not wanting the maddened animal to hurt anyone, I gave it a sound slap on the rear with the flat of my daiklave, attempting to herd it back in the direction of the river. After launching a mule kick in my direction and taking out the wall of a nearby building, the beast went where I'd hoped it would, towards the Grand Canal.

It went into the water with a huge splash, capsizing a few little boats, but it seemed to be doing less damage off of the streets. The huge beast moaned and snorted, paddling away from the shore.

The end of the road was getting closer, and the nearest anchored ship was a good distance away, but I felt as though I could make the jump from the shore to the vessel. Essence began to burn all around me as I poured it into my daring leap.

When I landed on my feet on the deck of the nearest ship, a dozen weapons were immediately pointed at my face.

"Stop where you are, Anathema!" A sailor ordered me.

That was when I saw Veritas, who was standing on the rump of the cow begin shaping a spell. If I'd been burning brightly before, he was impossible to ignore then. Huge tendrils of fire flowed from his fingertips and caught the rigging of the ship I was on. In panic, the crew leapt overboard as their Air-Aspect captain vainly tried to extinguish the flames. He turned slowly to see what all of the commotion was about and stared at me in abject terror. I took advantage of his moment of distraction and threw him into the water.

A second burst of fire suddenly rocked his ship I was on, and I saw Veritas sprinting off on the opposite bank of the river.

An enormous, very fast-moving vessel rose up from beneath the waters of the river, blinding everyone on the docks with brilliant blue Essence lights and deafening them with a horn unlike anything I'd ever heard. It was some sort of First Age submersible, as old as the warbirds Veritas had stowed in his manse. The hatch opened with a hiss and there was Jing Wei, standing with his arms crossed and a dozen bushels of poppies behind him.

The only thing that still stood between the cow and Jing Wei was the Bridge of Whispers.

Remembering what Veritas had said about the bridge being designed to raise and lower with Essence, I leapt back the way I'd come, from one burning ship to the next. Ignoring the startled shrieks and shouts of theater-goers, I put my hands on the channels in the marble, willing the bridge to life. It did rise, slowly and painfully… just high enough for Roach to guide the cow underneath it. Essence flared around me, and for a moment I was glowing brighter than Veritas.

Then he cast another spell.

Still eying the burning ships nervously, the cow swam in the direction of Jing Wei. I leapt over the whole river to meet Veritas. It didn't matter that the distance was more than a hundred feet.

Veritas stood with his arms crossed and watched with smile on his face as Jing Wei landed his ship and the cow obediently boarded, snuffling in the piles upon piles of red poppies. Clambering down from his unusual mount, Roach joined Jing Wei.

"A submersible!" Veritas exclaimed. "Jing Wei, you scoundrel! Where did you steal this ship? What happened to the Ying Long?"

"Sank. This is the Ying Long II!" He replied proudly. "She's somethin', eh?"

"Brilliant!" Veritas agreed.

"Still got a few kinks here and there," Jing Wei added gruffly. "This demon technology takes some getting used to."

"I'll sort her out for you," Veritas volunteered.

"I suppose you _could_ ," Jing Wei smiled slightly. "But if you rig anything on this boat to kill me, demon, you'll regret it! I'll haunt you forever!"

"Where's Amira?" I wondered.

Of course, the moment I asked that, Amira staggered out of the river on the opposite bank near the Whisper Bridge. She shook herself dry. Preposterous as it seemed, no one seemed to notice when the enormous silver wolf shrank down to the size of an ordinary dog and vanished into a nearby alley. There was no sense in worrying about her. If there was one thing that I was absolutely convinced of, it was that Amira was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. I also knew that she would find me no matter where I went.

Everyone on the waterfront was staring at Veritas and myself.

In fairness, we were both extremely difficult to ignore.

The pillar of light around Veritas burned gold, red, and blue. Delicate gears and formed of Essence cascaded all around him. For a moment he looked so much like his previous incarnation that I almost expected to see tendrils of sentient forged gossamer darting out from his sleeves.

From the way Jing Wei shielded his eyes, I guessed that I was glowing just as brightly myself, although there wasn't so much color surrounding me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that the shapes my Essence formed were of white banners in the wind, spectral soldiers, and charging horses in all the soft colors of the sunrise. Even if no one watching could have possibly made out our faces, Veritas and I were able to look directly at each other.

I was immediately reminded of a day, impossibly long ago, when Perfect and I had stood in the exact same position, only a few feet apart.

"So here we are. About to be killed again," Veritas admitted.

I nodded. Although he did not have the memories that I did, he could occasionally recall snippets of his past life. I decided not to mention that the last time we'd fought together to the point of exhaustion was right before the both of us were killed during the Usurpation. It was an uncomfortable reminder of just how far we'd fallen.

"I think we need to lie low for a while," I paused. Really, it sounded like an asinine thing to say.

"Hey, Anathema! You coming or not?" Jing Wei demanded.

Without hesitation, we both ran aboard the vessel, and Jing Wei closed the hatch. Within moments we'd vanished into the murky depths of the river. If anyone tried to follow us, they never guessed where we went.

Despite the fact that we knew we had very little time to rescue the girls that Nagezzer had already sold, it took a good long time for Veritas and I to recover all of the Essence we'd used.

When the both of us finally stopped glowing, Jing Wei surfaced his vessel near the Brood Market. He dumped a few bushels of poppies in the middle of the square and Roach coaxed the cow out. We left the animal with a sign around its neck explaining that it had been liberated from Sesus Nagezzer's compound and that he had acquired it from dealing with the fae. Generally speaking, Nexus was a town not known for its effective legislation, but the mere fact that the animal produced controlled substances that Nagezzer had not been paying the appropriate taxes on would certainly attract the attention of the Guild. And most likely, Adamant Quill, who would know that I was in the process of fulfilling our bargain.

Without any other excitement, we parted ways from Jing Wei and followed the directions he gave us, which led us back in the direction of Harlotry. The bakery was not hard to find, and when we arrived Roach and Amira were already there waiting for us.

I stared up at the doors, hoping that the Red Queen was somewhere else, dealing with Nagezzer and trying to sort out what we'd done with her cow. She'd certainly left enough of her underlings behind to make things difficult for the four of us.

Roach and I gave Veritas a leg up and he peered through a small crack in the top of the door. "Not good," He grimaced. "Fifty goblins, maybe more."

"Fifty-six." Godchaser quipped.

"Any sign of the girls?" I asked.

"No," Veritas admitted.

"No mortals I can sense," Godchaser added.

"What are they doing?" Roach pressed.

"Eh... baking? At least that's what it looks like," Veritas sighed heavily and hopped back down to the ground.

"So now what?" Amira asked, turning to me.

I smiled slightly. "There are no people in there, just fae? Are you sure?"

"Positive." Godchaser nodded.

"That makes this easy," I replied. "We break the doors down, and kill everything that moves."

Roach gave a low whistle. "Uh, Boss?"

"What?" I protested.

Veritas gave a slight bow and stepped away from the door. "After you, Alexander."

I did not bother to correct him.


	25. Chapter 24 - Three Circles (Sapphire)

**Chapter 24**

 **The Three Circles Society**

The Red Queen was gone. It was time to make my move.

I rose from my bunk without a sound, and slinked like a thief over to the door of our cell. Usually, one of the goblins would cry foul if any of us girls even touched the bars, but our usual guards had gone upstairs for some reason and hadn't returned yet.

It had been more than a week since I'd turned myself in to Sesus Nagezzer's thugs outside of the Sweet Dreams Bakery and allowed them to "sell" me to their mistress, the powerful fae known as the Red Queen. I'd expected to escape captivity on the same night that I was brought into the Red Queen's lair – but that had been before I'd learned just how bad the whole situation really was.

There weren't only a few girls who'd been picked up by the fae, there were hundreds of them from all over the Scavenger Lands. Most were destined to become slaves, but some were marked down by the Red Queen in a little leather book as "interesting". It had taken me some time to insinuate myself into the "interesting" category without revealing what I was really up to. When the goblins had tossed me into a different, more secure cell and I'd looked up into the familiar faces of my friend Val's daughters, I'd heaved a great big sigh of relief.

The girls had stared at me for a long while, probably thinking that I'd gone crazy. Not that I blamed them. Six months ago, I wouldn't have purposefully thrown myself into the hands of the fae just to get information that I could probably uncover by blackmailing Dragonbloods who were considerably less powerful than the Red Queen and not nearly as likely to eat my eyeballs. But when Tamika and Rose had vanished, I'd thrown my own life on the line without knowing if I would be able to save them at all.

Generally speaking, I don't like seeing any of my friends in trouble. But when it's Val's daughters I have to worry about, my better judgment goes right out the window. Of course, Tamika and Rose weren't the only "interesting" girls that the Red Queen had gotten her hands on. Also in our cell was my mother's right-hand whore, Keiko Matsura... a young Water-Aspect Dragonblood called Matsu and the infamous Heather Fiore, the very worst professional "actress" in the city of Nexus.

"Sapphire?" Matsu hissed. She'd been watching me like a hawk from the moment I arrived and it was clear that she suspected I was up to something. "What are you doing?"

"Getting us out of here," I replied, seizing one of Heather's hairpins

"Hey!" Heather protested as her elaborate curls collapsed over her face. Of course, I would have picked the most essential pin.

When it comes to Solars, the Dawn Caste are tough, the Twilight Caste are clever, the Zenith Caste are charismatic, and the Eclipse Caste are manipulative and slippery.

Night Caste are agile, stealthy, and really, really lucky.

It is very cool to be Night Caste.

Born and raised in a part of Nexus where people generally didn't think much of women, I'd taken it upon myself to use my talents to protect those in need, even if they didn't always appreciate my efforts. Heather scowled at me, trying to recover her hair. In a fae prison, you'd have thought she'd have more important things to worry about, but that was Heather for you. Over the course of the last few days, I'd ranked each of the girls I was imprisoned with on her overall ability to help me orchestrate an escape.

The Dragonblooded Matsu was on the top of my list. She was so competent it shocked me that she'd been captured in the first place. After Matsu were Val's girls, Tamika and Rose. They were both smart and I'd taught them how to deal with the fae. Because she was old and somewhat overweight, Keiko was somewhat of a liability, but the "actress" Heather Fiore was worse. I somewhat suspected that I'd have to carry her out kicking and screaming. Fortunately, if push came to shove, I was prepared to do just that.

Tamika quickly handed me all of her hairpins and Rose silently watched the stairs. Ten minutes later, the lock I was fiddling with still refused to open. It made a nasty little gurgling noise that made me suspect that it was enchanted. I sighed in defeat and reached for my shroud cloth, tying it around my head. To anyone who didn't know what I was doing, it probably looked like I just wanted to get my hair out of my face.

"Have it your way. I can play dirty," I whispered the first part of one of my favorite Charms under my breath. The internal components of the lock writhed and clacked against each other as I fueled as much Essence as I dared into the device. I'd already used a number of Charms to keep my weapons hidden and to secretly observe what was going on upstairs with the Fae. I could feel my Caste Mark beginning to burn beyond the point where I'd be able to repress it. Still, my shroud cloth would keep anyone from noticing what I was doing, provided that they were a little stupid and I wasn't already pushing my luck.

See, as much as I consider myself to be a force for good, a lot of people have some issues with the source of my power. Through centuries of propaganda and brainwashing, the Immaculate Order has convinced most of Creation that being a Solar Exalt is the ultimate in heresy. They say we're "Anathema" and send entire armies to hunt us down. Not that I blame them for that, honestly. They _need_ entire armies to hunt us down.

"We're free!" Heather exclaimed as the lock crumbled into pieces in my hand.

"Shh!" Matsu scolded, covering her mouth. "Not yet we're not!"

"How did you do that?" Keiko whispered uneasily. It was the first she'd said in hours.

"It's a trade secret," I replied, trying to underplay my accomplishment. I stuffed the lump of gossamer-laced slag into my pocket. I would have preferred to have the lock intact, but sometimes with magical devices, forensics is usually easier than psychology.

"Is there anything archaeologists don't do?" Tamika smiled slightly.

"I'll tell you if I find something," I drew my long knife. "Can any of you use this?"

"You mean to stab someone?" Heather gasped.

Matsu immediately raised her hand.

"Good. Don't lose it. It has sentimental value," I paused. Though "sentimental value" was something of an understatement, I knew it wouldn't be wise to confess that I had actually found the blade in the 1,500 year old tomb of my past self. Really, I knew very little about my previous incarnation, except that he and I were both Night Caste and that he had been "the Keeper of the Peace", a position not unlike "Chief of Police" which I held a tremendous amount of respect for. Violent and filthy as Nexus had become since the fall of the Solars, it could certainly use a few people who were willing to lay down some law.

Unfortunately, there weren't nearly enough of us who could compete with the kind of scum that more than a thousand years of lawlessness could cultivate. As fast as I could recruit mercenaries and other people with skills to my crews, they became casualties. I didn't like seeing good kids get killed, but I hated what I saw when we did nothing even more. It's one thing when a man dies with a blade in his hand. It's another thing entirely when some soulless monster steals a child's skin and leaves his lifeless corpse lying curled up in his mother's bed as if he were only sleeping.

I've seen that. And I've seen _worse._

"But what about you?" Keiko protested. She looked nervous, and I didn't blame her. Though not always purely malevolent, most fae are still bad news.

"I think I'll manage," I replied, gesturing to my firewands. Of course, no one had noticed them before, but once they did, all of the girls were in awe.

"You… you snuck weapons in here? How?" Tamika paused. "Wait! You planned this all out? You got captured on purpose, didn't you! Oh gods, Sapphire! Why?" Tamika demanded, reading me like a book.

"It was the only way to get you out," I replied.

"You shouldn't have risked your life for me! I… I'm just a stupid maid! Not even good enough to be an entertainer." Tamika protested. "You're..."

I put my finger to my lips, warning her not to say anything before she gave away my alias. Though Keiko knew that I was "Shadowsbane" because she worked for my mother, I didn't think it would be right to let two complete strangers know that they'd just been rescued by Nexus's second-most infamous vigilante. Only the Emissary himself was more feared.

"Tamika, I promised your father… I…" I almost said something I hadn't meant to say and swallowed my words. "Screw it! If it's what you really want, you could learn to do everything those women do!"

"I agree," Keiko nodded. "You're a very strong young woman. Perhaps lacking in graces, but those can be learned. If you truly wish to learn, I shall speak to Three Pearls on your behalf."

"But I don't know how I'll ever…" Tamika began, her eyes drifting in my direction.

"You really want to pay me back? Try to stay out of trouble," I paused. "And if you see me do some pretty impossible things… don't mention them to anyone."

"If you succeed in getting us out of here, we will all owe you our lives," Keiko put her hand on my own. "I may be a whore, but that doesn't mean I am without honor! Your secrets are our secrets. Agreed, everyone?"

"Of course!" Matsu nodded readily.

"Agreed!" Tamika replied. Silent little Rose gave me a hug, and even Heather nodded.

"Good. Then I'm going to cause a distraction upstairs. I can guarantee that every last fae in this building will be chasing after me. I'm going to lead them out onto River Street, towards Firewander District. I want you to wait until you can hear them panicking and that's when I want you to come up. Tamika, when you reach the big room, you lead the girls out the back door where they bring in the flour. Run as fast as you can to the Market Permit Office and get Adamant Quill. Tell him where I am and what's going on."

"Adamant Quill?" Keiko blinked in surprise. "Well, shouldn't we find the militia? Or some of those Dragonbloods that are camped around outside the city?"

"Get Quill. No one else. Please, trust me!" What I didn't say was that I specifically wanted Quill because he was also a Solar, and therefore not inclined to turn me over to the nearest Wyld Hunt if I happened to be glowing a bit when he arrived.

"We'll do it!" Matsu agreed.

I turned to Rose. "Start counting."

She nodded in agreement. Without hesitating for a moment, I raced up the stairs. I threw open the doors, firewands blazing.

Goblins dropped their flour sacks and baking pans, leaping at me like a swarm of locusts. Using two Charms in sequence, I leapt onto the scaffolding above our heads, flipped over the whirling blades of the mixer and landed on my feet between the two fae who wore the chef hats, obviously the ringleaders of the entire operation.

Without hesitation, I shot them both between the eyes... just as the River Street doors came crashing down. The fae seemed uncertain, glancing back and forth from me to the strangers who'd just arrived on the scene.

The doors had been busted in by four newcomers, but they were people, not fae. The first was a thin man about my own age with a short red hair dressed in a spotless white cloak that looked just like the one the Emissary was so famous for. He was followed by a huge silver wolf and a second man who looked like an Imperial soldier, except that he was charging into the fray with an orichalcum daiklave.

The last to enter was a Southerner, a Murqai who kept right behind the man with the daiklave. Weird as it was, he fought with what was obviously an Imperial-issue longsword... and the way he moved also looked like army training. Without a doubt, he was a Realm soldier dressed as a bandit.

I suspected his reasons for donning such attire had something to do with the obvious Solar in front of him. The big guy killed fae with an efficiency and expertise that I'd never witnessed before. I could only guess that I was watching a genuine Bronze Tiger in action, and I wasn't disappointed in the least.

Black smoke billowed out of the oven and I realized belatedly that one of the goblins I had shot had fallen into it. The smell was enough to make me gag, like burning sugar mixed with something too foul to consider. Running back in the direction of the mixer, I fired a dozen shots into the crowd of fae below.

While they were scattering, I swung over the railing and landed effortlessly on my feet beside the red-head, the one who'd taken the doors down with fire. He was carrying what looked like a First Age lightning spear and as he turned to face me I saw that he was also a Solar.

A thrill coursed through me. _Two_ new Solars in my city! In the five years that I'd been Exalted myself, I'd only ever met a handful of other Solars... and most of them hadn't stuck around for very long. The infamous Windswept Rhapsody waltzed into Anathema's every year around Calibration, bought a few rounds of drinks and then waltzed back out again before I could say more than two words to her. She knew that I was also a Solar, but I got the distinct impression that she wasn't really interested in being my friend.

From what Viper had always told me, Solars tended to be private and suspicious. For most of us, it was the only way we could keep our branded heads. But that didn't mean I didn't sometimes dream about what it would be like to sit down with someone who actually _understood_ what it felt like to be one of the ousted and defamed Lords of Creation, divinely mandated to try to protect people who thought you wanted to eat their babies.

That was when the fae's big nasty decided to make its appearance. I'd heard about the dough monster from some of the girls I'd originally been locked up with, but I hadn't actually seen it before myself. It was far bigger than I'd expected, and a lot faster. It rose up out of the mixing vat, howling and lunging for us with its gooey tentacles.

The Murqai chopped one of its arms clean off and fearlessly tried to cut the dough monster down. He ended up getting mobbed by goblins but managed to wrestle his way free, seize his sword, and jump right back into the fray. Though he wasn't using any kind of Essence that I could observe, he was still holding his own.

The way the Murqai shrugged off most of the hits that he took reminded me of my friend Little Fox. Fox is a Djala. Although he's an adult, he's basically got the body of an eight year old. Of course, that's never stopped him from tussling with Immaculate monks or even burly Icewalkers. Full of attitude and tenacity, Fox always fights like he's got something to prove. This guy was like that.

I spoke the first words of another of my favorite Charms, and let loose a volley of Essence rounds. The Twilight standing next to me began shaping some more sorcery and the man with the orichalcum daiklave and his wolf companion covered the two of us. It was obvious that those two had been fighting together for a very long time, and that the wolf was no mere animal. The two moved like dancers across the floor, never actually touching one another but scarcely more than a foot apart. I guessed that the wolf was his Lunar Mate and thought immediately of Val, wondering if he was looking for his girls or not.

Just the thought of what those fae had planned to do to Tamika and Rose made me furious. And since I'm a practitioner of _Righteous_ _Devil_ _Style_ , anything that pisses me off only makes me more dangerous. With a tremendous burst of Essence, I blew out the doors opposite of us, incinerating a dozen fae and making us a new exit.

The Twilight let loose his spell, a wave of acidic flame, and burned the dough monster to a crisp. As it crumbled into pieces and went down into the vat, he turned to me.

The man with the daiklave quickly ran to meet us, his Lunar close behind him. He'd burned quite a bit of Essence tearing through the goblins on the floor. I was not surprised to see that he was Dawn Caste, and I suspected that I already knew who he was. There were also rumors that a certain Cathak Loren, a beloved scion of the Realm and commanding officer of the local Wyld Hunt... had "powers" at his disposal that no mortal could possibly possess. It was always nice to have puzzle pieces fall into place.

"Who are you?" The Twilight demanded. His tone suggested that he thought he was the one in charge.

"You can call me Shadowsbane," I replied in the exact same tone. "I kill faeries."

"Ah! The heretic archaeologist!" The Twilight exclaimed. "I thought I recognized you! Why am I not surprised?"

I smiled slightly as I realized that I did know him. His name as he'd given it before was Veritas and he'd looked considerably less impressive when we'd met after one of Val's lectures. I'd suspected that he was a Solar anyway, but I hadn't had the opportunity to call him out. Seeing him dressed in gold and white with all of his artifacts out in the open instead of cleverly concealed under his clothing was like meeting him all over again.

"Where are the girls?" Loren asked.

"They should be running up those stairs any minute now. I set them all free and told them to follow me as soon as it got really loud up here." I pointed.

"Right. You're three Three Pearl's daughter, aren't you? Did Quill put you up to this too?" The Lunar pressed. As she had changed back into her human form, I knew immediately where I had seen her before.

 _Anathema's_. Of course. She was one of Viper's friends. Her name was Amira.

"No. Quill thinks I've been captured, just like everyone else," I replied.

"But?" The Lunar, Amira, pressed.

"Well, he also knows I can take care of myself!" I pulled off my shroud cloth. It was a little singed but not seriously damaged. Standing there between the three of them with my Caste Mark burning out in the open felt liberating. As a Night Caste, stealth was my greatest advantage and I'd gotten very good at concealing the fact that I was Exalted.

Of course, sometimes it was very hard for me not to jump up on a rooftop and proudly shout it out to the whole city. All of those sanctimonious fools at the University who mocked me would have to swallow their wagging tongues!

True, my mother was a whore and my father was an alcoholic mercenary who'd left me with nothing but his surname. I'd grown up without two coins to rub together and worked my way through a University education by conning other students out of their spending money. In the past I'd worked as a slack-rope walker, a trick shooter, and even a mah-jong grifter. Before I'd discovered the lost world which lay buried beneath the streets of Nexus, I'd toyed with the idea of becoming a lawyer, a profession that would have doubtless proven far more lucrative than archaeology, particularly since one of my childhood friends, Clawface Chao, was the current head of the Gongfang crime family. To my mother's chagrin, I'd never acquired any sort of poise at all. And maybe I did laugh like a hyena... but damn it all, I was still good enough for the Unconquered Sun!

"Oh, I knew it! You _are_ a Solar!" Veritas exclaimed.

"I am indeed!" I smirked, firing a shot blind over my shoulder. It caught one of the smaller goblins in mid-leap. He exploded in a burst of light.

That was when Tamika and the others came rushing up the stairs. They froze where they stood. Matsu dropped the knife I'd given her as if it were a hot coal and Tamika stared at me with her jaw dropped. It was no use putting my shroud cloth back on. I'd burned enough Essence that I'd risk incinerating it… and the girls had already seen what there was to see.

I only hoped that I could find a way to explain later. Given the circumstances, I reasoned that it was probably about time to tell Tamika and Rose where their father had "disappeared" to anyway.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that being revealed was something I couldn't have put off forever. And though I didn't trust Heather, I knew that Keiko would hold her tongue. Stories of demons attracted Imperial attention, and that was the very last thing anyone wanted in Harlotry. Soldiers were only good when they had lots of leisure time. When they were busy looking for fugitives, everyone was liable to suffer.

"Damnit! I told you, go!" I ordered.

The girls didn't need any more coaxing. They bolted out the back door and disappeared, all except Matsu who casually approached Veritas as if he was someone she knew very well.

"Fancy running into you here, demon," she remarked, her hands on her hips.

"You're looking well, Matsu," Veritas replied.

"The fae took my firewands," she snorted with distaste.

"Have your daddy steal you some new ones," Veritas suggested. "The Ying Long II is floating somewhere under the Nexus Pool right now," he informed her. "I don't suppose you need an escort home?"

"Oh, I'm not going to be caught _dead_ with three Anathema!" She retorted. Then Matsu smiled slightly. "But thanks for rescuing me, demon! See ya around!" She gave me back my knife, offered up a little salute, and sprinted off.

"What were the fae doing here?" Loren wondered, examining the stacks upon stacks of flour bags.

"Baking with Wyld-tainted sugar," I replied. "It's how they've been spreading their influence throughout the city. Buy a cookie, take home a nightmare." I gestured towards the dough monster which was still pouring halfway over the edge of the enormous mixer.

"Disgusting," Loren snorted.

"I know," I sighed. "But there's more. The Red Queen has been trading for information, bringing lots of "experts" in here. She wants to know how to get in to a Solar Sanctuary."

"A Solar Sanctuary?" Veritas paused. "That's Adamant Circle Sorcery. Practically impenetrable for a creature of the Wyld."

"And that still doesn't explain what was she doing with those girls!" Amira protested. "You can't tell me that Heather Fiore is an expert on anything, let alone sorcery!"

"It isn't about _what_ she knows, it's about _who_ she knows!" I replied.

"Matsu's father is a smuggler with a reputation for fencing early Shogunate and First Age artifacts," Veritas supplied. "If there's something that would tear down a barrier like that available on the black market, it's safe to bet that Jing Wei would know about it."

I nodded. "Keiko Matsura is the mistress of Peleps Eamon - and he used to teach at the Heptagram. Tamika and Rose are sisters. Their father disappeared five years ago. They still don't know what happened to him, but…"

"You do?" Veritas raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you went to someo of Val's lectures. You tell me," I replied.

"He's brilliant, but he pretends to be a fool when people are watching him." Veritas paused. "There can only be one reason for that. He's a Celestial Exalt like we are. But... not a Solar. A Lunar, I suspect. No Moon?"

"Hah!" I laughed. "He's going to _hate_ that you guessed that!"

"That still doesn't explain Heather!" Amira argued, speaking that name with obvious distaste.

"Yes, it does! Dead Eddie. She's the star of his new play and it's no secret to anybody in this down that Dead Eddie has been around for a long while," I sighed. "And I'm sure not the only one who thinks that whiny old ghost knows more than he's telling."

"We should probably be getting out of here before the authorities show up," Loren admitted. "And I need to see Quill and tell him that my end of our bargain is done."

"Damnit, Quill! You know, it's times like this that I really wish I could convince that man to stop shaking hands with everyone he meets! It's not always necessary to coerce people into helping you. Sometimes they just like to do the right thing!" I argued. "Am I crazy to think that he's a little paranoid?"

"We should be the paranoid ones, dealing with him," Veritas replied.

Loren nodded.

"Well, fortunately for you folks, I know exactly where we can find him!" I finished.

Amira snickered, and I figured from her tone that I was in for more trouble than I'd bargained for. The five of us searched the building from top to bottom and found almost nothing, but the process of making sure there were no more girls locked up anywhere took just long enough that I could put my shroud cloth back on before we headed out onto the streets. Loren and Veritas settled for pulling up the hoods on their cloaks.

"That's handy!" Loren's lackey, the Murqai called "Roach" grinned, noticing how the shroud cloth concealed my Caste Mark. "You oughta get one of those!" He nudged Loren.

"I wish I had a spare," I admitted. "One of these days I'm going to burn this one to smithereens."

"Don't worry," Amira sighed. "Something like that wouldn't do Loren any good. He doesn't do anything by half measures. Either he won't burn a single mote or…"

"All of House Sesus is running through the streets screaming "Anathema"?" I suggested.

"You were there?" Amira blinked in surprise.

"Are you kidding? I could hear the panic from down _here_! The whole city was going nuts! Giant cow monster, big glowing machine floating on the river, eight separate fires, some kind of demon invasion?" I teased.

I turned to Veritas, who appeared to be having some sort of whispered conversation with his cloak. "So, if we're off to see Quill, our best bet is to travel through the sewers, especially since we're all obvious right now. We can stop and have a look at my project on the way."

"Project?" Veritas perked up at the sound of that word. When he learned the truth about Solars, my buddy Little Fox had commented that he was surprised to discover that I was a Night Caste and not a Twilight myself. See... my passion for "taking out the trash" is really only rivaled by my love of archeology, especially ancient machines.

"I've been anxious to show this off. Well, to someone besides Quill. He's never impressed with anything I do. But personally I feel like I've come a long way." I continued, opening the trap door in the center of my workroom floor.

"What is it?" Veritas wondered, the first to follow me down the hidden ladder.

He blinked in surprise at the long section of track that led off into the darkness. A word that sounded suspiciously like a curse escaped him.

"Part of a lightning rail." I explained. "A transportation system from the First Age. I've been working on it for more than five years. I figured it might be useful. You know, for people like us who have to get from Harlotry to Nighthammer, or from Fishmarket to Sentinel Hill without being seen? I have three access points excavated already. One of them is here, another is in the basement of the Foundry… and the last one is in the Permit Office at the Big Market where our friend Quill pretends to work. It's the door labeled "Filing Room"."

Veritas grinned very broadly. "You're reconstructing the Whispering Serpent?" He observed.

"How'd you know that name?" I demanded.

"Well, I _did_ build it," he replied, a smug little smile on his face.

"Perfect! Then maybe you can answer some…" I trailed off into silence, realizing suddenly what I had unwittingly said. "No, wait!" I exclaimed. "You're _Perfect_!"

Spending as much time as I did beneath the streets of Nexus, I'd uncovered more than a few ancient cornerstones and technological marvels that bore the signature of the famous First Age artificer known as Perfect Mechanical Soul.

"Of course," Veritas bowed. Obviously he knew enough of the past to recognize the name of his previous incarnation.

"Then you…" I turned to Loren and a few nice Old Realm curse-words escaped me. Word on the street had it that a legendary Dawn Caste called "The Faeslayer" had recently returned and made short work of a particularly nasty, predatory fae known as the Alabaster Duchess. The Alabaster Duchess had been one of the most hated underlings of the Red Queen and personally I wouldn't miss her one bit.

"You're Faeslayer!" I exclaimed.

He looked a little embarrassed, but nodded slightly.

"I can't believe this! C'mon, now I've really got to show you something!" The two followed me as I ran down the tracks to my little base of operations and kicked aside my sketches and maps to reveal the very first track of the lightning rail, a piece of perfectly smooth orichalcum inscribed with graceful Old Realm characters.

 _The_ _Whispering_ _Serpent_

 _Given_ _this_ _12th_ _day_ _of_ _Descending_ _Water_ _to_ _the_ _People_ _of_ _Nexus_

 _Alexander the Faeslayer_

 _Exalted_ _of_ _the_ _Dawn_ _Caste_

 _Sword_ _of_ _the_ _Deliberative_

 _Perfect_ _Mechanical_ _Soul_

 _Exalted_ _of_ _the_ _Twilight_ _Caste_

 _Third Grandmaster Artificer and Supreme Engineer of the East_

 _Shadowsbane_

 _Exalted_ _of_ _the_ _Night_ _Caste_

 _Keeper_ _of_ _the_ _Peace_

"And I take it you are Shadowsbane?" Veritas turned to me. It wasn't really a question.

I nodded. "Pretty awesome, isn't it?"

"The lightning rail?" Loren wondered.

"Well, yes, but that wasn't what I was talking about. I was talking about the Unconquered Sun, bringing us all together right here. The three of us are standing exactly where we stood over two-thousand years ago!" I finished.

Veritas laughed slightly. "I suppose that is something to marvel at."

"There's another place you two should see," I admitted. "It's down in Nighthammer and that's a bit of a walk, but do either of you remember something called the _Three_ _Circles_ _Society_?"

Veritas immediately brightened. He grinned very broadly. Loren nodded, looking a bit nervous.

"I don't know if you know this, but back in the First Age, all of us were _serious_ sorcerers. We collected all of the information we could about magic and combined it into one book that was supposed to be the ultimate resource. Everything from Terrestrial Circle meddling to Adamant Circle Creation-rearrangement," I explained. "Quill was kind of our wild young blood back then, the rule-breaker... that's how all Silurians are, apparently. Not that I've got that much experience with sorcerers in this lifetime. But I've been reading."

"So have I," Veritas nodded. "And everything you've said so far makes perfect sense to me."

Loren bit his lip. He looked concerned.

"You two need to meet Val," I decided. "He'll be tickled. You're his favorite Solars. He's written books on you."

"We're not the same people we used to be," Loren paused.

I studied him for a moment and smiled. "Yes, you are," I replied. "You know, Quill told

me once that you have to _act_ like a Solar in order to _become_ a Solar. That's how Exaltation works. You have to _need_ your Essence or you'll never unlock it. You'll just die of old age and be born again."

Loren glanced at Veritas, and both of them nodded.

"Do you know where the fifth member of our Circle is?" Veritas wondered hopefully. "Ah, presuming of course, that Quill is the fourth."

"He is," I replied. "And no, I don't. Although I'm sure we'll all recognize our Zenith when we meet her."

"Or him," Loren supplied.

"Ahem?" Roach cleared his throat.

Amira stood with her hands on her hips. "We're supposed to be finding Quill, aren't we? You three can come back and stare at that _very_ _exciting_ brick later if you really want to!"

"And for the record, I don't speak Old Realm!" Roach announced. "So unless it's some "secret Solar business" that you're up to... can we stick to High Realm?"

"We were speaking Old Realm?" Loren blinked in surprise, turning to Roach who gave him a very condescending look.

"Hunh. Didn't realize that," I admitted. "But I spoke Old Realm growing up, so it's kinda natural for me. Burning Feather is my grandmother."

"The Goddess of Intoxicants?" Veritas observed.

I nodded. "Yup. Pain in the ass she is. Of course, I'd take her any day over my mother."

"Actually, we met your mother," Veritas informed me.

"I'm sorry," I grimaced.

"She was very helpful," Veritas replied.

"Mm. I wouldn't be so sure of that. She doesn't have an altruistic bone in her body. If she gave you information, she'll _want_ something from you. Maybe not right away, but eventually she'll come round," I said.

Loren said nothing. He looked uncomfortable.

For awhile, we walked on in silence, heading in the direction of the Big Market. Veritas seemed to be deep in thought and finally he broke the silence. Despite the fact that Roach had reprimanded all of us for having a conversation that he couldn't understand right in front of his nose, Loren turned to me and spoke in Old Realm.

"What do you know about the Usurpation?" He asked.

"I don't remember it if that's what you're asking... but from the research I've done, it sounds like it was very bad. The fighting part at least." I admitted. "Some of the oldest Solars must have been terrifying to face. Flying fortresses, Adamant Circle sorcery, weapons, artifacts, construct armies, Wyld-shaped housepets..." I shook my head heavily. "Even if the Dragonbloods did outnumber us ten thousand to one, we still should have destroyed them when they tried to take us out. And yet they somehow succeeded in killing us all and imprisoning us for over a thousand years? How?"

"Sidereals," Veritas replied with conviction.

"Sidereals?" I echoed. That was a word I'd never heard before.

"You've never heard of them either, have you?" Veritas observed, a slight smile on his face. "There's a reason for that. They broke Fate itself to hide their existence from us. But they're behind everything."

"If you say so." I shrugged. It sounded like paranoia to me... but I was a little unnerved by his certainty.

"I know so!" Veritas replied. "You see, the Sidereals particularly _hate_ our Circle. There's a special Convention within the Celestial Bureaucracy created solely to keep track of Exalts like us who learned things that they were never meant to know. It's called Oversight."

"Oversight?" I eyed him suspiciously.

"Sounds rather innocuous, doesn't it? Don't be fooled!" Veritas warned. "Sidereals are nothing but trouble, and even the ones who claim to be interested in helping us can't be trusted."

"What is it with you and Sidereals?" Loren demanded. Notably, he spoke in High Realm so that Roach could understand.

"What's a Sidereal?" Roach wondered.

"I tried to explain that to you before." Veritas sighed heavily. "It's very complicated. But the short of it is, Sidereals are Exalts like we are... except that they live and work in Yu Shan with the Gods. They're all part of an organization called the Bureau of Destiny and they manipulate the Fates of everyone in Creation. Including us." He paused. " _Especially_ us." He decided. "The Sidereals are responsible for the Dragonbloods rising up and overthrowing the Deliberative."

"Wretched meddling bastards, those Sidereals," Quill added, landing silently behind Loren. "Never know where they are or what they're doing! Can't trust them at all!"

I didn't know where Quill had come from, but he'd certainly made an excellent entrance. Even Amira looked surprised to see him, and it's almost impossible to sneak up on a Lunar.

Loren jumped like a scalded cat, and almost went for his daiklave. "Don't scare me like that again!" He warned.

Quill smirked and turned to me. "Shadowsbane, your messenger found me. I suppose I need not tell you that she was quite distressed. At any rate, it didn't take me long to guess where you'd gone. The old Circle's all together now, eh?" He put his hands on his hips and surveyed us.

"We're still missing one," I reminded him.

"Yes. But I wouldn't worry about that too much. If we continue as we have been these past few days, I've no doubt that the Unconquered Sun will find a way to bring ol' _Heart-of-Gold_ back to the rest of us soon enough." He replied. "So are we off to the Well?"

"Absolutely," I replied without hesitation.

"Then allow me to lead the way!" Quill gave a rougish smirk and illuminated his own Caste Mark. Despite myself, I was fairly skipping as I followed him into the dark.

 **Chapter 25**

 **The** **Well**

Wandering the ruins be


	26. Chapter 25 - The Well (Veritas)

**Chapter 25**

 **The** **Well**

Wandering the ruins beneath Nexus, I burned my own will like a candle against the dark. It had been difficult to make the decision to leave my manse, particularly when I knew that there were dozens of Sidereals watching my every move.

After everything I'd learned about the Bronze Faction of the Bureau of Destiny and the danger that Rhapsody was in, I wanted to lash out indiscriminately against the Dragonblooded who seemed to be everywhere, lording over those whom they had no right to control. And whenever Godchaser whispered in my ear that a Sidereal was nearby, I fought the urge to destroy their Resplendent Destinies by calling them out publicly. Of course if I did that, I knew that I'd also expose myself.

I tried to keep my composure. It was nearly Calibration, after all... and I'd had an eventful year. The experience of my Exaltation had been harrowing by any standards, I'd successfully fled all the way from the Abbey of Mela on the Blessed Isle to my own manse in the valley south of Nexus. I'd had a short-lived but brilliant love affair with a fellow Solar and successfully repaired one of the most coveted artifacts in all of Creation, "The Godchaser" who remained my constant companion. I'd discovered the existence of Sidereals, one of the greatest secrets of the Heavens, fought three of them off and bribed a fourth into working for me. I'd discovered my own talent for sorcery, met my two-thousand year old Lunar Mate and learned quite a bit about my previous incarnation, Perfect Mechanical Soul.

More recently, I had come to know three of my former Circlemates, Loren the Faeslayer, whom I respected, Sapphire Shadowsbane, who annoyed me to no end, and Adamant Quill, whom I rather expected would get the rest of us killed. As Sapphire had casually remarked, none of us had really changed at all.

Of course, thanks to several supposively "benevolent" Sidereals who claimed to be members of the pro-Solar "Gold Faction", I understood exactly _why_ the Realm feared that the return of Solars would herald the end of the world. They had to call us demons! What they had done to us was unspeakably horrible. They hadn't stopped after destroying thousands of years of art and innovation. They'd blackened our legacy so that no one would ever believe that it was possible to even _dream_ as we'd once dreamt! The Deliberative had terraformed pure chaos! Our predecessors come to control the Wyld to such a degree that they were able to physically push it back, just as the Incarnae and the Primordials themselves had done. We Solars had been more than just the rightful rulers of Creation. We'd also been its _makers_.

Following our affair at the bakery, all of us needed some time to lie low before returning to the surface. Sapphire had sent one of the girls that she had rescued to go fetch Adamant Quill and he had led the three of us Solars, Loren's Lunar Amira and his lackey, "Roach" to see something Sapphire vowed that we would all find extraordinary.

After what felt like hours of stumbling through tunnel after tunnel, we came to a narrow spiral staircase which seemed distinctly familiar to me. I remembered someone complaining that it wouldn't work, and could distantly hear myself agreeing to fix the problem.

The room at the bottom of the stairs that Quill led us into left me as shocked and awed as I had been when I'd first discovered my manse. Godchaser gave a low whistle when she saw the orichalcum and moonsilver celestial map that adorned the walls and the distinctive, grooved pattern of three circles carved into the marble of the round table, which was surrounded by five chairs. The first one which caught my attention was marked with the symbol of the Twilight Caste. My seat.

"First things first, don't use _any_ Essence in this room!" Quill warned. "This table is a control mechanism for a very dangerous device called the Well of Udr which you may or may not remember. It's a kind of Calibration Gate, like the ones that the gods and Sidereals use to move in and out of Yu Shan. However, the Well of Udr is not connected to places inside of Creation. It's specifically connected to places outside of Fate."

"That's not possible!" Godchaser protested, though I had repeatedly asked her not to start arguments with Quill.

Apparently, after Quill had gotten Loren and myself fairly inebriated before the three of us set out to rescue Roach and Godchaser had spent the better part of an hour scolding him very loudly, drawing the attention of a number of Immaculate monks and two soldiers who were attached to the local Wyld Hunt. "I can't even find things outside of Fate! For someone to build a device that could find places outside of Fate... they would have to break the Loom! But Autochthon built the Loom! It wouldn't be easy to break!" She protested.

"It wasn't," Quill replied.

Of my all Circlemates, he was the only one who addressed Godchaser as if she were capable of holding an intelligent conversation. Loren persistently referred to her as "that construct" and Sapphire seemed a bit nervous whenever she spoke.

Godchaser gasped.

"I'm absolutely lost," Loren admitted. He was by no means slow, but his education in lore and matters arcane was sorely lacking. I'd made it my special project to teach him everything that I could. In my bones, I knew that he and I were kindred spirits, and that when he became comfortable enough with his own nature, the two of us would be fast friends again. Though he was a Dawn Caste and more of a fighter than a scholar, Loren preferred clean, hard logic to wild speculation, which was something I found exceptionally refreshing, especially when the two of us were faced with Quill, who was the exact opposite.

"I think I can explain," I interrupted Quill, who raised an eyebrow in my direction. He was insufferably arrogant and never seem to believe that he could be mistaken about anything. I somewhat doubted that he'd mastered Adamant Circle sorcery as he claimed. As far as I could tell, the only thing that he was actually good at was convincing people to listen to him, and to believe that whatever he said was true... even if it wasn't. "Fate wasn't actually _broken_. Well, it was, but not for the reasons you think. The Sidereals did choose to make the rest of us forget that they ever existed, but they were capable of that only because the Loom has a fundamental design flaw. Autochthon showed me... showed _Perfect_ the problem. I saw it with my own eyes. I never did guess if it was intentional or not, but..." I explained.

"You're suggesting that a _Primordial_ built something with a design flaw?" Sapphire stared at me in disbelief.

"Yes! Because he built it out of another Primordial," I sighed in defeat, feeling strangely grateful towards the two Gold Faction Sidereals who'd provided me with enough restricted information to get themselves mined for starmetal. "The Loom of Fate is alive. And it's not at all happy with its predicament. Who would be, being used like that? It regularly tries to... sabotage itself. Hence the necessity of the pattern spiders. They constantly make the necessary repairs. But the spiders can't catch all of the problems at once. There are knots, there are missing portions and there are pieces of Warp, threads of the Loom itself which have come partially or completely loose from Fate! And they _also_ told me about a piece of Warp which dangles out into Elsewhere and sometimes _disappears._ With the mind of a sleeping Primordial to guide it, well, there's no telling how far something like that might reach. The Underworld. Yu Shan. Malfeas. The Deep Wyld?" I suggested.

"Another Creation," Quill supplied. As he spoke, I realized that he wasn't as ignorant as he'd sounded before and that somehow he'd already known everything I'd thought was my secret.

"Not exactly," I paused. "It's more like a... copy of our own."

"A copy?" Roach looked dumbfounded. At Loren's insistence, the rest of us were speaking in High Realm instead of Old Realm, but both Roach and Amira had still remained very quiet. I gathered that was because the sort of things we were talking about were the kinds of things that no Lunars or mortals had _ever_ known about. Neither of them could possibly comprehend what Adamant Circle sorcery actually was, not merely meddling with the heartstrings of reality, but fundamentally and willfully re-shaping it just as one of the Incarnae or a Primordial would.

Loren didn't say a word either, and even Sapphire looked solemn. But Godchaser wouldn't be deterred. "Maker!" She exclaimed. "He knows?"

"You know?" Quill eyed me suspiciously. "How do you know?"

Such information was extremely sensitive, even by Oversight's standards. "Think about it," I replied. "Some of the Primordials were killed by the Gods in their revolt, some were imprisoned. Some of them joined the enemy and others just disappeared. Is it really madness to suggest that the same beings who shaped Creation might have reached out into the Wyld and made another world like this one? Am I correct so far?"

Quill nodded. "As far as I know. The Well of Udr may not reach the same place all the time, but it does follow a specific pattern. And every Calibration, for five short days if you look into the Well, you'll see a place that should not actually exist."

"Calibration is coming up soon," Sapphire explained. "Quill and I don't think it's any fluke that we've all found each other again. The four of us together may not be a complete Circle but..."

"You want to try to use this thing?" Loren blinked in disbelief. "That's insanity! We don't even know where it might go!"

"Maybe not, but we _do_ know that we won't be trapped there permanently. The Well has a failsafe. Whenever it's activated, it is _only_ for five days... at which point it will retrieve us all and deposit us promptly back here," Quill explained.

"How can you know that?" Loren demanded.

"Many years ago, I discovered the Well myself. It was the third day of Calibration and this thing was burning up Essence like nothing you've ever seen," Quill paused. "I didn't know where it went, so I tossed in a Resplendent Whirlagig."

"How many of my constructs have you stolen?" I demanded, eying him suspiciously as he produced the little surveillance device.

"That's irrelevant. It's not as if you were using them, being _dead_. The point is, two days after I tossed it in, it came flying back out. I couldn't recover the information that it collected and so the following year, on the first day of Calibration, I tried sending it thorough the Well again. Five days later, it came back. Undamaged, but again with no data."

Quill continued. "Five years ago, I was planning on entering the Well myself when Sapphire accidentally destroyed the geomancy of a manse in the Market District. She told me later that a strange woman reached out of the well in a garden and tried to attack her. Now _that_ well was supposed to be purely ornamental, so I can only guess that someone else is trying to come here from this other Creation... and that the only reason they haven't succeeded is because the Well on this side and the Well on the other side are no longer correctly aligned. If we repaired the manses and cleared out some of the rubble, we could probably fix the geomancy."

"And that's what you want to do?" Loren asked.

"Naturally," Quill smirked.

"Haven't you considered that by fixing this monstrosity you could be letting something terrible into our world?" Loren pressed.

"I agree," I replied.

Even Sapphire, who struck me as something of a hellion, rolled her eyes in Quill's direction. "Yeah, cause we don't have enough problems already with the Red Queen and those damn flying hagfish!" She snorted.

"No sense of adventure?" Quill frowned. "None of you?"

"You're nuts, Quill!" She informed him.

"Well, I'm not opposed to fixing this device," I paused. "If it's malfunctioning, it could prove even more dangerous. Imagine if something did get through from this alternate Creation and we couldn't send it back?"

"Where do you want to start then?" Quill asked. "It seems natural that you take the lead on this one, Recluse. It's your sort of project."

"Yes, it is, but... geomancy is complicated and I won't feel at all comfortable meddling with it unless I do quite a lot of research first. Changing a manse's fundamental structure can produce an enormous amount of power, but it has to be channeled properly." I explained. "Judging from what you think this device does, there must be more than one manse around here connected to it. At least... four, no... five! Five manses, of course! But we'll need the hearthstones for each manse, and after 1,500 years, those could be anywhere!"

A mad thought suddenly occurred to me. "Unless! Hah! Of course!" Without bothering to explain what I'd just realized, I ran over to the table. Sure enough, there was a small, expertly hidden drawer directly in front of my seat. Despite Quill's warnings, I sat down and gave the drawer a mote of Essence. The drawer opened. It was lined with black velvet and made to accommodate something I recognized immediately.

"Looking for this, Maker?" Godchaser reached out with one of her tendrils, producing my hearthstone circlet. I'd found it in my manse weeks ago but hadn't been able to identify the origin of the iridescent opal-like stone that was set in it.

Seeing what I was up to, Sapphire immediately followed suit. An incoherent exclamation of joy escaped her as she discovered the hidden drawer in front of her seat and produced a similar orichalcum circlet set with a purple stone. She put it on and grinned very broadly. "Well? How do I look?" She pressed.

"Gorgeous, darling!" Quill exclaimed. Sapphire put her nose in the air and fanned herself dramatically.

I said nothing, though I was very annoyed that the two of them did not seem inclined to take our situation seriously. Loren only coughed. Truthfully, Sapphire looked a bit like a child dressing up in someone else's things. Though Sapphire had been more than thirty years old when she Exalted, she had a very round, girlish face which made her look much younger than she was.

Quill sat down in his seat, unforgivably smug. He reached into Elsewhere and produced his own circlet, setting it upon his head at an angle that made him look more like he was wearing a party hat than a crown. The green gem flickered. Clearly, whatever manse it was tied to was phenomenally unstable.

That did not surprise me in the least. In fact, it seemed... appropriate for Quill. I was also not surprised to discover that he'd already known about the circlets. Was there anything that menace didn't have hidden up his sleeves?

"Well then, if we already have the hearthstones we need, I suppose our first task should be to unearth some of these damaged manses." I replied.

"We already know where one of them is." Sapphire said. "It's going to be hard to get to, but I could find it blindfolded. It's where Val and I Exalted. And it may be the manse that my hearthstone belongs to. I did always like the place." She admitted.

"Then that's where we'll start." I agreed.

Loren bit down on his lip. He glanced in the direction of Amira and Roach who were waiting at the foot of the stairs. They both looked irritated. Then he turned back to Sapphire, Quill and myself. "To be honest, I think that activating this "Well" for any reason is a very foolish thing to do. But what I like even less is something this dangerous sitting where anyone might stumble upon it. We should destroy it. Completely." He decided.

"Destroy it?" I echoed incredulously. "But..."

"That's idiocy, Faeslayer! We can't _destroy_ the Well!" Quill replied. "We can, however, meticulously _disassemble_ it! And we probably should, though not before we are _certain_ that we have every last piece in our possession! As long as there are loose ends somewhere out in Fate, we can't guarantee that whoever activated this device from the other side won't try to do so again!"

"That may be for the best." I agreed grudgingly. Secretly, I relished the thought of having all of the parts of the Well brought back to my manse where I could analyze them to my heart's content and then reassemble them when I understood what I was actually dealing with. "But there's a catch, isn't there?"

"The principles that the Well of Udr operates on are... complex," Quill explained. "It will take all of us working together to pull this thing apart safely and even then, it will require a special touch."

"Sorcery," I interrupted him. I turned to Sapphire and Loren. "The two of you will need to learn sorcery."

From how he'd balked at the idea of learning sorcery before, I did not doubt that Loren wasn't pleased to hear such a thing. Sapphire grinned like a madwoman.

"She's all yours." I informed Quill, who offered Sapphire his hand as if he were a courtier asking a lady for a dance. The two of them twirled around the room. From the way they hung on each other, I rather suspected that they'd been sleeping together for some time.

Not that I had any inclinations towards Sapphire. She could be insufferably abrasive, but I was mildly jealous of Quill nonetheless. Being a wanted "Anathema" makes it extremely difficult to have a meaningful relationship with anyone. I wondered again if I would see Rhapsody on Calibration as she'd promised. Silvermane believed that she was dead because he'd found the necklace that I'd made for her, but I was convinced that the cord had broken on its own, and that there was a good reason why she hadn't been able to go back for it. Though Godchaser informed me that Rhapsody was not the Zenith of our Circle, I wondered if she'd be willing to help us with the Well.

In a rather immature way, I hoped that I could get Rhapsody involved mostly so that she would stay in Nexus for more than a few days before racing off again on another of her madcap adventures.

I put my circlet on. Truthfully, I liked the sensation of the orichalcum against my skin, and the circlet was more a part of me than any of my other artifacts, save for Godchaser herself. I'd worn it almost continually in my past life, and the first time I'd laid my hands on it, I'd experienced the most powerful vision I'd ever had of the First Age. It had left me so shaken that I'd lain on the floor of my manse for hours afterwards, Godchaser hovering vigilantly over me in silence until I could bring myself to sit up.

Slowly, Loren took his seat at the table next to me. He opened the drawer in front of him and stared at its contents for a long while.

"Loren." Amira broke the silence. "If you don't want to do this, you don't have to!"

Did the Lunar know more than she was letting on?

I wrinkled my nose slightly but tried to avoid watching her suspiciously. Lunars could be as deceitful as Sidereals, and not all of them believed that the return of the Solars was a good thing. Though Amira was one the leaders of the strongly pro-Solar "Sun King Seneshals", that didn't mean she was willing to follow the rest of us into Malfeas and back.

"We can go," Roach suggested in a tone that seemed to say that was what he'd prefer.

For the first time since we'd met, Loren did not immediately agree with what Amira thought was best. He didn't even glance at Roach. I could see the change in his eyes and I smiled slightly. I knew the realization he'd come to was very painful for him, but it was also important.

It wasn't only the life of a Dynast and a soldier that Loren needed to leave behind. He had to free himself from the illusion that he was anything less than one of the most powerful forces in Creation. He had to understand that whether he willed it or not, all of the world _would_ come to bow before Solars again. He had to accept that his fate was not merely to join us, but to become our leader again.

"You two should probably go," Loren ordered, turning to Amira and Roach. "I'll meet up with you at Anathema's when we're finished here."

Roach looked surprised and Amira seemed genuinely hurt. Roach began to say something in protest, but Amira stopped him before he had the chance to blurt it out. They both stepped into the corridor and closed the door. A long moment of silence passed.

Very slowly, Loren lifted his circlet from its resting place. It was exquisitely crafted and looked more like a crown than any of ours did. He slowly put it on his head and sat staring down at his hands for a moment, clearly deep in thought.

When Loren finally looked up to face us, Quill dropped his circlet on the floor. Sapphire nearly flipped out of her chair. Godchaser gasped, and I didn't react much better myself.

If I'd ever wanted to see Loren behave more like his previous incarnation, I'd gotten my wish.

I knew that he remembered his past life almost perfectly, but I'd never stopped to consider what that actually meant. Though I felt a kinship with Perfect, mostly because we were alike in so many ways, we were not really the same person.

But Loren had two complete sets of memories. Although he didn't have sufficient practice with Essence necessary to do all of the things he had once been capable of, he could still draw upon Alexander's vast reservoir of knowledge and experience. In a sense, he _was_ Alexander... and in that moment, he looked _exactly_ like his predecessor.

"The first thing we have to do is stabilize these manses. We'll have to do it within the next two weeks or we won't be ready by Calibration," Loren paused. "We'll need to be armed when we go through the Well, and we'll need someone on this side capable of destroying our work should we make a mistake. Which means... we'll need to tell Silvermane and the Seneshals about what we've done. They're not going to like it. Amira is already upset," he sighed.

"Well, I can talk to Silvermane," I paused. I'd meant to speak with him weeks ago about the Sidereals, but I'd never gotten the chance. It seemed best that he heard such a confession from me, rather than from Emerald Viper or someone else who wouldn't be able to answer his technical questions. Although Silvermane was a warrior and not an artificer himself, he had been married to my previous incarnation for almost a thousand years. In order to accept what we were doing, he would need to know _why_.

"Once we're on the other side, we take whatever we left over there so that nothing dangerous can ever come back through to this world. Then we destroy the manses and push _everything_ into Elsewhere so that in the future, if we should be tempted to this kind of idiocy again we'll have our work cut out for us," Loren finished.

"Faeslayer, what you're proposing would be absurdly difficult!" Quill argued. "Putting a sword into Elsewhere is one thing. You're talking about permanently removing half of the underground of this city! Nexus would collapse into the Yanaze!"

"Not if we make the right preparations." I smiled slightly. I already had a few ideas.

"If there is a spell capable of doing such a thing, it would have to be Adamant Circle!" Quill protested.

"So?" I prompted. "Aren't you an Adamant Circle sorcerer?"

Quill looked very embarrassed. He heaved a dramatic sigh and glanced at each of us in turn. "Actually, I'm a Sapphire Circle sorcerer. And a lying bastard," he admitted.

I smiled slightly. "It's nice to know that some things never change."

"Are you implying that I'm still wrong about everything, and you're still perfect?" Quill teased.

"We'd all better be _perfect_ if we're going to pull this off!" Sapphire sighed. She did not sound very confident. "There's a good chance that one misstep could kill everyone in this city."

"And if we do nothing?" I prompted.

No one seemed to like that option. Even Godchaser seemed worried by the Well, and she was usually enamored with any First Age technology that we found.

"Ahem!" Quill cleared his throat. "Gentlemen and _lady_ , it gives me great pleasure to convene a meeting _long_ overdue! The Three Circles Society... is back in business."


	27. Chapter 26 - Apprentice (Veritas)

**Chapter 26**

 **The** **Sorcerer's** **Apprentice**

Weeks passed as the four of us began to repair the manses we needed to power the Well. As Calibration drew closer, we all became irritable. There was far too much that still remained to be done and no one we could ask for help. We'd unanimously decided not to draw the Lunars into our mess until all of the necessary preparations were completed. Though some of the Sun-King Seneshals were far older and more experienced than we were ourselves, we didn't know how they might react if they learned what we'd really been up to in the last days of the Deliberative. At worst, they might decide that we deserved what had happened to us.

To Quill's disgust, Sapphire proved to be absolutely no help at all. She was terribly shaken after her initiation into sorcery, which I personally believed had come too far quickly. Quill had presided over her training, as the Silurian school of thought seemed more to Sapphire's strengths as the Devonian method better suited Loren and myself. Still, it worried me that Sapphire, who was normally a chatterbox, didn't say anything for days. While Sapphire had not been Exalted as long as Quill or Loren had, she had several years more experience than I did myself, which I'd thought might have prepared her somewhat.

Still, I had more to worry about than Quill's anarchistic methods of instruction. I had a student of my own that I was handling with the utmost care. Though it was necessary for us to disassemble the Well of Udr as soon as possible, I didn't want to make Loren's initiation into sorcery something that he would spend the next thousand years hating me for.

He proved to be an excellent, if unenthusiastic student.

Finally, I decided that we had put off the inevitable long enough.

We met outside the city on a hill not far from my manse. It was early evening and the sun had not yet come to rest on the horizon, the perfect time to begin.

"I keep expecting to see Amira or Roach," Loren admitted, glancing over his shoulder.

"They're probably drinking at Anathema's." I informed him, and he shrugged halfheartedly.

"All the same. I thought someone would try to stop me," Loren admitted.

"Now, Loren, if you don't want to do this..." I began.

Loren sighed heavily "Damnit, Recluse, you don't have to coddle me! I know exactly what I'm getting into. And there's no way that I'm going to entrust something this dangerous to just you and Quill!"

"You don't think I can handle myself?" I raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"It's not _you_ I'm worried about!" Loren replied. "I trust you! I've always trusted you. But I want to be there every step of the way! I'm keeping my eyes on Quill so that he doesn't stab _you_ in the back! I _know_ he's betrayed us before! I'm sure that you and I killed him _at least_ once! I just wish I could remember the circumstances better!"

"And I wish I'd left myself better notes," I sighed. "So have you considered what you want to sacrifice?"

Loren nodded. He reached into his pocket and produced a piece of silver that I recognized immediately as the Talonlord insignia from his old uniform, the last thing he possessed that still tied him to the Ravenous Winds and his old life. "It's nothing much, but..."

I smiled slightly. "No, it's exactly right."

"What are you smiling about?" He eyed me suspiciously.

"You understand better than you think you do." I replied. "The initiation into the first Circle of sorcery is the same for every sorcerer... gifted mortal, Dragonblood, or one of us." I explained. "You didn't _choose_ to be Exalted, but you _choose_ to become a sorcerer. You choose set yourself apart. That can be difficult, especially since you've spent so much of your life trying to be just like everyone else."

I could see Loren running his fingers over the little pin as I spoke. The expression on his face suggested that he would very much like to turn back.

"Relax," I informed him. "I've done this a thousand times."

"When you were Perfect!" Loren reminded me.

"And I am _still_ perfect!" I retorted.

"I know you are," Loren smiled slightly. He slowly approached the fire I'd lit in the center of the circle I'd painstakingly assembled over the last few days. He spoke the words that I'd instructed him to recite, and then dropped his silver insignia into the flames. There was an explosion of golden light, and I knew at once that something had gone horribly wrong.

"What was that?" Loren demanded.

I coughed. The air reeked of sulfur, and where our brazier had stood, a mass of green flames had erupted from the ground. A demon had just appeared before us without being summoned. It was at least eight feet tall with a long, lean body covered in a red scaly hide and strung with whipcord muscle. The demon leered at us.

"Hohohoho!" It cackled. "Two little sorcerers!"

Loren took a step back. "A demon?" He wondered uneasily.

"We didn't summon you!" I informed the demon. "Return to Malfeas!"

"Arrogant worm! You think you can command me so easily?" The demon snarled.

It lunged for us, cursing incoherently in shock as Loren immediately called his daiklave.

"Wh... what? Y... you?" The demon growled, clearly recognizing the sword. "You're supposed to be locked away!"

" _I'm_ supposed to be locked away?" Loren echoed. "This from a demon?"

He turned to me, but I was as surprised as he was.

"No matter. I'd rather have you _dead_!" The demon sneered.

"Not a chance," I replied coldly, seizing my lightning spear from where I'd left it lying. The expenditure of Essence was just enough to make my Caste Mark begin flickering and when the demon saw me in that new light, it hissed like an angry snake.

"Oh, I knew it! _Always_ the two of you!" The demon spat. "No! I won't obey your commands! I won't! I'll kill you first!"

The demon charged Loren, but instead of stepping in with his sword, he planted the blade firmly in the ground and made a familiar gesture. Brilliant golden strands of Essence bled from his fingertips, wrapping the demon in a cocoon of light. The demon howled and exploded into a cloud of ash.

Loren stared at the Essence swirling around his own hands and then at the pile of ash where the demon had stood. It was obvious that he understood as I had after consciously casting my first spell... that sorcery was nothing less than the belligerent rearrangement of the fabric of Creation itself.

Dragonblooded were fundamentally limited when it came to sorcery. They lacked the sufficient Essence and potency of will to accomplish anything truly devastating. The same could not be said for Solars, however, and from Loren's reaction, it was evident that he finally, truly, understood the difference between us and them.

We stood in silence, facing one another, for a long while.

"This is dangerous," Loren whispered.

"It is," I agreed.

"Then why do we do it?" He pressed.

"Because we can," I finished.

"Is that the only reason? That's not a very good reason." He eyed me skeptically.

"No. But it's the only one that I actually believe is true," I admitted.

"I appreciate your honesty, Veritas," he paused. "But there's no way that I can handle this."

"It's too late for that," I shook my head heavily. "What's done is done. Sorcery isn't something you can un-learn, Loren. You may not want the knowledge that you have now, but that won't change the fact that you have it. If the Unconquered Sun didn't think you were fit for this, the ritual wouldn't have been successful."

"Sometimes I wonder what he thinks," he remarked dryly. "Why me?"

"Heh. Well, I've come to believe that I was Chosen because of my conviction. You have conviction too... but more importantly, _you_ are good. We're all supposed to be good, but it comes easily to you. Even after everything that you've heard and seen, you haven't become bitter. You're still good, and you still have hope for the world. And by being yourself, you make the rest of us better," I smiled slightly.

"Are you humoring me, Recluse?" Loren pressed.

"Absolutely," I replied. "Do you feel better?"

"A little," he paused for a moment, considered what I'd said and then nodded, looking a little embarrassed. "So, about that demon?"

"The one you just banished?" I suggested.

"It seemed very upset about something," he paused.

"Demons have long memories. It's probably still miffed about whatever our previous incarnations were last up to," I said.

"I get the impression that we ought to find out what that was," Loren paused.

"Well, we could head back over to my manse and do some research?" I suggested.

"You have tens of thousands of books. That could take years," Loren sighed.

"You've got a better idea?" I raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"Can you summon that demon back? The same one that was just threatening us?" Loren asked.

"Um, well..." I began. "I really don't want to make a habit of summoning demons."

He gave me a very condescending look, and I sighed in defeat.

"Yes, I can summon it back!" I admitted. "But it's going to be very upset! Demons don't take kindly to being pulled out of Malfeas, and then kicked right back down there again!"

"I know," Loren nodded. "That's exactly why we're going to summon it. And banish it. _Repeatedly_."

"I see," I observed, understanding what he was proposing.

Godchaser, who was supposed to be keeping quiet, sat up and squealed with delight. "Hee!" She exclaimed. "This is going to be fun!"

Four summonings and three banishings later, we got all of the information we wanted.

 **Chapter** **27**

 **The** **Shoat**

It took a long while for Recluse and I to regain all of the Essence that we'd used banishing and re-summoning the demon that had ma


	28. Chapter 27 - The Shoat (Loren)

**Chapter** **27**

 **The** **Shoat**

It took a long while for Recluse and I to regain all of the Essence that we'd used banishing and re-summoning the demon that had made an appearance at my initiation ceremony. We retreated to his manse where we wouldn't be seen by any of the Ravenous Winds who were currently patrolling around the walls of Nexus. Though I was personally afraid that I would be recognized by someone I'd formerly served with, Recluse assured me that the Winds were "thoroughly" infiltrated by Sidereals who would do worse than report us to Mnemon Rai. As I paced the loading dock for the warbirds and gazed out over the massive library and the plasma furnace that dominated the heart of Recluse's factory cathedral, I considered everything we'd learned from our unwilling Malfean informant.

The Delibrative's annual Calibration party had been the event of the season for more reasons than one. Since everyone was expected to attend, it acted as a kind of insurance to prevent Solars from attempting to use certain dangerous spells of Adamant Circle sorcery that could only be cast during Calibration. Over time, our predecessors had become so corrupt that only the feat of getting _caught_ doing something that would send all of Creation spiraling into the Deep Wyld would keep them in check.

Even with the memories that I had of the First Age, I still couldn't conceive of doing something as awful as what the demon claimed he'd helped my previous incarnation accomplish. Apparently, Perfect and Alexander had once used the days of Calibration to summon a Third Circle Demon into Creation so that it would create a "distraction" significant enough for them to do something far more reckless. The thought of how many people had probably lost their lives solely so that the Three Circles Society could set the Well of Udr in motion made me feel sick.

What bothered me was how the demon referred to the Well as our "contingency plan". Had our previous incarnations known that the Usurpation was about to take place? What purpose did the Well really serve?

Recluse didn't like the information we'd gleaned any better than I did. He sat with Godchaser hovering over his shoulder for a long while, muttering again about his "protoscemaic vortex" and musing over where it had disappeared to. I didn't bother to ask him to explain. When he began theorizing about the Well, listening to him only gave me a headache.

I decided to head back to Nexus as soon as I was able. I didn't sleep at all, though I wanted to. I had the most horrible, incoherent dreams I'd ever had in my life. A hideous, monstrous woman was calling for me, using Amira's voice when I resisted her summons. I'd never had such dreams before and I decided to attribute them to dealing with demons. Although the presence I felt was distinctly _not_ Malfean or fae, it was malevolent and familiar.

As soon as the sun came up, I decided to start walking back to Nexus. Keeping off of the main roads it took me most of the day to reach the city. It had been several weeks since I'd seen Roach or Amira, but I had a fairly good idea of where I'd probably find them both.

I knew they were both sore about my decision to leave them out of the business of the Three Circles Society, but I'd had more than enough of sorcery. Despite the nearness of Calibration, the thoughts foremost in my mind were of a good meal, a glass of wine and Amira in my bed. If I was very, very apologetic, I suspected that she would forgive me for slighting her in front of my new "friends".

Anathema's was in its usual state of chaos when I arrived. A group of soldiers in the colors of the Ravenous Winds were sitting in the corner across from the stage, but I didn't recognize any of them. I wished belatedly that Veritas had come back to the city with me. Godchaser had a knack for detecting Sidereals and I had the distinct feeling that I was being watched by someone with Charms at their disposal.

Though I was still far from comfortable with all of Viper's wild girls, I knew that nothing said "trouble" like a man who acted like he was ashamed to be walking into a whorehouse. I sighed heavily and let Kitten paint my forehead when I walked in the front door. I noticed that she was very careful with her brushes and suspected that she'd learned I really was a Solar.

"Is Amira here?" I asked.

Kitten shrugged. "Haven't seen her today."

"What about Roach?" I pressed.

"The Murqai that Viper likes?" She hazarded a guess. I wasn't surprised that Kitten thought Roach was a bandit. He had been wearing southern-style clothes since we'd arrived in Nexus. "He was here this morning," she admitted. "But he usually takes off in the evening."

How long had it been since I'd seen Roach? A week? Two weeks? It seemed like too long. Roach had always kept me sane, reminding me that I hadn't eaten or slept and constantly asking me normal questions such as whether I thought the bard performing on stage was any good and whether I preferred pan-fried noodles or pork ribs for dinner. I'd been so wrapped up in my training with Recluse that I hadn't even noticed what I'd been missing.

Still, my hopes to seem comfortable and "at home" inside Anathema's were completely dashed when I glanced out the window and caught sight of three soldiers in unmistakable red armor walking down the street. They seemed to be considering whether or not the fun of visiting Anathema's would be worth the trouble they'd get into for patronizing a blacklisted establishment. One of them laughed in a particular manner that made my blood run cold. When he stepped into the light outside the front door, I realized that the youngest soldier was my cousin, Teric.

Not bothering to explain why I was in such a hurry to hide, I raced upstairs and flung opened the door to one of the "private" rooms. The whore who'd been fixing her makeup scurried out into the hall and I stared out in the direction of the harbor.

Sure enough, a very familiar House Cathak warship was docked in the harbor. The scarlet banners left me with absolutely no doubt as to who had just arrived in Nexus.

I didn't have to guess where my father was staying, and though I knew it would be madness to get anywhere near him, especially if Mnemon Rai had revealed what had happened to me... I decided that I had to see him. At very least, I needed to know why he'd come to the Scavenger Lands in such a rush.

"The Scarlet Legion is in Nexus?" I demanded.

"Since this morning. I hear the Dragonlord is visiting family. The Emissary gave him a special pass." Kitten nodded. "Should I go get the mistress?" She asked, standing in my shadow. A well-concealed dagger on her hip glistened in the moonlight. Clearly, the whore was much smarter than I would have given her credit for.

"Not yet. But if I'm not back here by closing time, tell her I went up to Sentinel Hill," I replied.

"You're not going to go start trouble with those Scarlets, are you?" Kitten whispered incredulously.

"No!" I vowed... and scoffed at myself. Though there was no sense in telling Kitten everything, but if something did go wrong, Roach and Amira would need to know where I went, and why. "Look... Dragonlord Chiron is my father."

Kitten's eyes widened in disbelief and she swore incoherently in Rivertongue. "You're going to go see him? Are you _mental_?" She demanded.

I certainly felt crazy, but I wasn't about to admit that. The conversation I'd had with Recluse while liberating the Slug's giant cow still stuck in my mind. If I could speak to my father before anyone else did, maybe I could convince him that I was not a monster. In time, he might come to understand. As risky as it was, I had to try.

I started to climb out the window. "This could be my last chance to see him. Once Mnemon Rai tells him what happened to me, I'll never be able to talk to him again."

"You shouldn't be talking to him now! He probably already knows! What if he came here to kill you? I'm telling the Mistress! And then I'm getting Shadowsbane!" Kitten informed me.

"You can't stop me!" I retorted. "And _don't_ go get Sapphire!" I warned her as she climbed out onto the roof.

Kitten watched me as I slid down the drain pipe and sighed heavily. "What is with you people?" She demanded, once my feet were on the ground.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Are you kidding?" Kitten wagged a disapproving finger in my direction. "All of you Solars sound like you're stuck in Act Five of _The_ _Seven_ _Daimyos_! You know, the part where Sun Yu and Hawk lay there on the ground and _talk_ for ten minutes before they both bleed to death? _Oh, my duty! Oh, I die!_ " She finished with an obnoxious strangled groan, obviously imitating the character from the play what she was quoting. "You think you're a big damn hero, hunh?"

" _Absolutely_ ," I smiled slightly despite myself and dropped down to the street. I landed effortlessly on my feet and waved to Kitten, who put her hands on her hips and scowled at me.

I decided to take the alley behind the Drunk Duck and began running in the direction of Sentinel Hill. I caught my breath and composed myself before I crossed the bridge leading into the exclusive district. If I acted as if I belonged, I'd probably be mistaken for a servant.

It seemed strange to pose as a servant when I'd been raised to behave in Dragonblooded company as though I were a Dragonblood myself... but something _had_ changed in me. When I'd thrown my insignia into Recluse's sacrificial fire, I'd vowed that I was done being a servant of the Realm. What I hadn't anticipated was that I would actually feel _different_ afterward. For the first time, I was looking at the world I'd been raised in through the eyes of an outsider. I was no longer a loyal son of House Cathak hiding a terrible secret.

I _was_ a Solar, walking brazenly into one of the most Dynast-infested parts of Nexus.

I tried to keep my head about me and avoided staring too long at any of the people who passed me on the road. It was very late, and anyone acting nosy would immediately look suspicious. It felt like an eternity since I'd last seen my cousin Lao's house. Compared to Anathema's or any of the other places I'd been staying, the manor should have looked like a palace to me, but I'd also taken up residence part-time at Recluse's manse while he trained me in sorcery. Waking up in the shadow of an ancient airship had given me a sense of perspective. Even Recluse's smallest tools were dazzling in comparison to Lao's over-dressed mansion. I somewhat doubted that I would ever be impressed by anything mundane ever again.

Perched on the wall of the outer courtyard, as close as I dared get to the house, I used a Charm to listen for familiar voices behind the rice paper screens on the patio. The largest shadow to the far right I was sure was my father. Even when he wasn't wearing armor, he had a commanding physical presence. Across from him was Lao, and the others moving in the background I guessed were some officers of the Scarlet Legion along with Lao's household servants and guards. The first thing I heard didn't surprise me at all.

"He's probably gone down to that... that blacklisted nest of heresy!" Lao snapped.

 _Anathema's._ Of course. They were talking about Teric, who I'd just seen.

"Teric is not a fool, Lao," my father sighed heavily. "And he's very intent on a promotion. He won't embarrass himself!"

"Uncle, you give him far too much credit!" Lao retorted. "That boy is completely undisciplined! Mark my words, he'll be drunk, penniless, crawling with lice, and probably _painted_ by the time he gets back to this house!"

I smiled slightly. Though I'd never particularly liked Lao, he was sharp. Belatedly, I remembered that I'd been painted myself, and though I didn't intend to step out into the open, I quickly rubbed off the mark Kitten had put on me anyway.

My father made snorted. "You're particularly unpleasant this evening, Lao. Is there a reason why?"

"Uncle, I'm not a child, nor am I one of your soldiers! I'm a man of business, and if I'm going to continue pouring jade into the coffers of our noble House, I must insist that it is not squandered! I know that you're partial to your own blood, and Aunt Karisa's children... but Teric is a fool! He's not fit to command two Scales, let alone your Scarlets! You _can't_ retire!" Lao finished.

My father, _retire_? I'd never even conceived of such a thing!

"I'm old, Lao. Older than your mother and Karisa both," he sighed heavily.

"So choose a suitable heir! Hesiesh as my witness, _one_ of your children must show some promise!" Lao groaned.

" _Only_ one of them." My father was silent for a long while. "You know, I used to believe that the Dragons were not capable of making mistakes. But these last few months..." He fell silent. "They must be punishing me. There's no other reason for it. They must have known how much hope I poured into my son."

"Jaret's been dead for ten years, Uncle," Lao reminded him.

"I'm not talking about Jaret!" My father snorted. "Rai Jin still hasn't said anything?"

A _s_ he mentioned the name of my former commander, I realized that he was talking about me.

"No, and I don't think that he will," Lao paused. "I did hear that you wanted Loren transferred to your Scarlets. Your soldiers would have eaten him alive, uncle. Surely you know that?"

"Mm. I thought the same, when he first joined the Ravenous Winds. Loren was such a good child. I never disciplined him. I never had to. I don't know why Hesiesh didn't choose him, but when the Dragons turned a blind eye to my son, I should not have done the same. Without my support, he has proven to be everything I might have ever hoped for. Does it really matter if a man is mortal? On the battlefield, where either one of us can die in a moment... does it truly matter if I have two hundred years of natural life and you have only sixty?"

It was sobering to hear those words, and I found myself wishing that I'd had the courage to write my father a letter. I wanted to tell him everything. I believed more strongly than ever that he would understand.

It isn't your fault, Uncle." Lao said, probably just to say something.

"It isn't?" My father echoed. "I sent Loren back here! I packed his things myself, and now they tell me he's gone without a trace? Not even a body to bury? I've _threatened_ every one of the Winds! They tell me Loren was killed by Anathema, by the fae, by Murqai... I've heard that he was _eaten_ , _set_ _on_ _fire_ , trampled, stabbed... _kidnapped_ _by the_ _Emissary_! Not a single story matches! I personally questioned one hundred and eighty-five men, half of them mortals, and somehow _all_ _of_ _them_ lied to me! Loren must be alive _,_ and I can only assume that Rai Jin does not want me to know where he is!"

I wanted to see my father's face. Though it wasn't smart to sneak any closer, I wanted to know if he looked the way that I felt that he must, so tired and in so much pain. Very carefully, I climbed down the trellis and hid in the magnolia bushes. From my new hiding place, I could see the back of Lao's head and my father's profile. He looked old, older than I'd ever thought he was capable of appearing.

"Maybe he deserted?" Lao suggested. "Maybe that's what Rai Jin doesn't want you to know?"

"I don't think so. I overheard some fisherman talking on the docks this morning. Apparently there are _heroes_ in this city. One of them is supposed to be a superb swordsman with a penchant for rescuing young women," My father laughed slightly.

"Oh, you mean the Anathema?" Lao laughed.

"Anathema?" My father echoed. "An Anathema took those girls?"

"No, the Anathema _rescued_ them! Women began vanishing months ago. We assumed they were being killed by the fae... but then they all returned home at once, spouting the most _absurd_ yarn about being saved from some sort of awful monster by three Anathema! Dragons, it's all anyone's been talking about for weeks!" Lao explained.

"Anathema coming to the _rescue?"_ My father laughed. "Now I've heard everything!"

"Oh, that's the least of it! A magical healing fountain suddenly _appeared_ in Glassmaker's Alley. A Taimyo whose son was taken by the fae got the boy returned by a woman with "a burning white sun" between her eyes! Two cheating merchants turned themselves into the authorities because a drunk who beat them in at mah jong _told_ _them_ _they_ _to_ _do_ _it!_ A maid was _rescued_ from a mugger by a man who _shattered his_ sword on a stone wall!" He rolled his eyes. "It used to be that we only had Shadowsbane to worry about! Now it's a veritable infestation!"

"And you're _sure_ they're all Anathema?" My father pressed.

"Well, that's the only thing everyone seems to agree on!" Lao groaned. "Now, I was out of town on business when those Anathema exposed Sesus Nagezzer's dealings with the fae, but apparently two of them made quite the show on the waterfront. One is surely that red-headed monk you told me about, the one who robbed you. The other... well, he's described as huge and terrifying."

"Huge and terrifying?" My father pressed.

"Oh, and _beautiful_!" Lao scoffed. "Majestic! Radiant! _Like_ _a_ _king_! The Murqai are calling him _the Sword of Heaven._ You can understand why we're a bit concerned for the general populace, Uncle. This kind of heresy is difficult to purge."

Something ran across the opposite side of the courtyard. I almost reached for my daiklave, but then I remembered where I was. That was when I noticed the shadows on the ground were moving. My father noticed it to. He slowly stood and reached for his sword, which was resting against a chair only a few feet away from his grasp.

"What is it, Uncle?" He whispered.

"There's something outside," my father replied.

"Teric?" Lao asked. He looked nervous.

"Some _thing_ ," my father corrected.

A smell worse than the Yanaze on a hot day immediately assaulted my senses and I blinked in disbelief as I realized that the shadows I had seen belonged to a dozen shambling, river-bloated corpses. The Fae could not have concocted something more horrific, but I knew that I was not witnessing their work. A pale little girl in archaic funerary robes sat on the wall to Lao's courtyard directly across from where I was perched myself. Her eyes were cold and emotionless, like the eyes of a dead fish, and she was smiling a malicious, mirthless smile.

"Oh _Alexander_? I know you're here somewhere! Come out, come out wherever you are!" The little girl recited in a sing-song voice.

A chill raced down my spine. On the girl's brow was a circle which looked like my Caste Mark, except that it was black and dripping congealed blood.

The dead shambled closer.

My father quickly dispatched the first dozen corpses with a proud battle cry, but there were more of them coming. Cousin Lao ran into his house... and out a moment later with a sword, accompanied by one of his guards and four of my father's Scarlets. There were more walking dead coming from inside the manor, and inside, people had started screaming.

"I know you can hear me! And if you don't come out of hiding, I'm going to cut this little man into pieces!" The horrible girl leapt down from the wall and slowly approached my father. Four black metal chains as thick as a man's arm emerged from her back. They were crowned with vicious looking, barbed blades and moved like snakes as she walked.

"Mother has been calling for you, but you've been ignoring her! Rude boy, ignoring Mother!" She waltzed towards my father casually and pulled her chains back, preparing to strike at him.

I immediately thought of my nightmare, and the blood in my veins ran cold. That monstrous woman hadn't been a dream? Who was she, and what did she want with me?

I didn't have time to wonder. My father was still on his feet, but recovering from the strain of fighting off so many of the dead. I did not doubt that he could parry one of her blows, but four? He wasn't armored and he hadn't been prepared for a fight. His fiery anima had already begun to flicker, setting him apart from the sea of gray and black that was closing in around him.

The little girl had made a mistake in threatening someone I cared about! Even if my father wanted nothing more to do with me... even if he tried to kill me after I saved him, I couldn't let him to be cut down!

"Leave my father alone!" I ordered, stepping out of my hiding place.

"Loren!" My father exclaimed. All the life that had been slowly drawn out of him returned at that moment. It was almost worse, knowing that he was so glad to see me... and knowing also that he'd probably never remember me fondly again.

The girl brightened. Before I could warn him against doing something so rash, one of my father's Scarlets decided to take advantage of the fact that the little monster wasn't looking at him. He struck out with his sword, but his blow never connected. The blades on the girl's chains cut him in two at the waist. Without looking, she immediately killed Lao's guard.

"Stay back!" I warned. "All of you, stay back! Hold off the dead if you can!" I ordered. The remaining two Scarlets nodded obediently, positioning themselves in front of my father.

"All right, you beast! I'm here! Now what does your mother want?" I demanded.

The little girl grinned again, even more wickedly than before. "Silly boy! Mother wants you _to_ _die!_ "

The first of her chains struck just over my shoulder, cleaving two large branches off of the magnolia tree. One of the dead seized my arm, intent on holding me still so his mistress could pin me to the ground like an insect on a collector's board, but I was more than ready for him.

Despite the alarm I knew that it would cause, I called my blade. The Essence I burned wasn't enough to make me start glowing, but there was no mistaking an orichalcum daiklave for anything but a Solar weapon. I cleaved down all of the corpses that were within my reach, and parried the little girl's chains as she fired them at me. The strength that she possessed was preposterous, especially considering how small she was, and the first time she dodged one of my blows I knew that I'd been right to warn my father to stay away from her.

Any illusions that I'd harbored about her being an unsettling but helpless little girl vanished immediately. She was easily as fast and strong as I was, and clearly homicidal. When one of her dead followers got in her way, she gored him completely through without hesitation. I barely parried her attack and swore under my breath. If I wasn't going to get disemboweled, I'd probably need to use every Charm I knew!

My cousin's household staff and dozen of my father's soldiers had all emerged from the house. They didn't move close enough to interrupt our deadly ballet, but every man or woman who could fight had something that could be used as a weapon.

The chains swept close enough to my face to shear a lock of my hair. I countered with a move I'd practiced a thousand times. Focusing my will into blade, I extended the reach of my weapon with a flare of white-hot Essence that struck with the force of a battering ram. My Caste Mark began to burn, but my attack was successful. The evil little girl was lying on the ground, and looked both shocked and singed.

"Your first mistake was threatening my family!" I informed her.

She staggered to her feet. A dark miasma had begun to rise up around her, and I knew that had to be a bad thing. Was it sorcery she was attempting, or something else? I decided not to wait to find out.

The girl parried my daiklave with her chains as I struck as many times as I could, pressing her to the edge of the courtyard where her possible targets would be limited.

"Sister!" The little beast howled. "Sister!" Lightning crackled overhead and the earth made a terrible yawning sound. I thought for a moment that it was an earthquake, but the ground did not start shaking. Nothing happened, except the monster that I'd cornered scurried up the wall behind her like a spider and took off running into the night.

The last thing I saw before I went after her was my father's face. There was nothing I could think to say to him that would have been any consolation at all... but with the condition he was in, I doubted he'd be chasing me.

I leapt the courtyard wall in one bound, trailing Essence like a comet. More than a few startled shouts from the street warned me that I'd been seen, and those cries of alarm turned to cries of terror as everyone saw the malevolent creature that I was chasing. The mark on her brow was bleeding profusely and as she chased me through the pond behind the An-Teng Princess, every single cherry tree on the water immediately withered and died.

I knew that I had to get her far away from anyone who could potentially get hurt.

Leaping from rooftop to rooftop, she fled in the direction of the Nexus District. She was virtually invisible in the dark, but I could hear her clattering chains wherever she landed and I followed her anyway. A few Air-Aspect Dragonbloods were on my heels, and one Fire-Aspect was shooting burning arrows in my direction. Of course, I was far quicker than any of them could hope to be. But the little girl was still faster than I was, and I lost her somewhere near the Bridge of Whispers.

Still needing a place to hide myself, I turned around and doubled back in the direction of the Big Market. I broke down the door to Adamant Quill's office and charged into the filing room. There was no sign of a secret entrance to the Whispering Serpent, but I did notice a humming sound coming from beneath the floor. When I slammed both of my hands down on the granite slab, it split open, revealing a flight of stairs.

I jumped down and just as my pursuers came blazing into Quill's office, the stone closed up over my head. I made a mental note to thank Sapphire – and to apologize for doing something so incredibly pigheaded. I knew that I never should have gone to see my father, but what worried me more was the horrible little girl that I'd encountered.

Whatever she was, she was _not_ something that belonged in Creation... and the fact that I'd lost track of her before learning anything about her "Mother" or her "Sister" worried me considerably. The way that she'd slain my father's men had been too efficient, even for an accomplished killer. Despite the innocent-looking form that she wore, she was no child.

 _She was a_ _monster._

Not waiting to see if those who'd been chasing me could sort out where I went, I headed down the steps and followed the tracks of the Whispering Serpent to the buried Temple of the Unconquered Sun, the manse that had once belonged to the Zenith Caste of our Circle. Decomposing corpses of flying hagfish and the familiar scent of alchemical ammunition warned me that Sapphire had been in the tunnels recently.

With Recluse and Quill working together, it had been very easy for us to clear a path back to the Temple that had been buried five years ago in the biggest earthquake Nexus had ever suffered. I remembered clearly how it had felt to stand with my Circlemates for the first time in 1,500 years in the shadow of the enormous orichalcum statue of the Unconquered Sun.

I was not entirely surprised to see Sapphire sitting at the foot of that statue, rolling a peach in her hand. Sapphire looked even smaller and more childish than she usually did. When I entered the room, she smiled slightly. "Burned too much Essence?" She teased.

"I tore the door off of Quill's office," I admitted. "But I don't think I've been followed."

"He'll love that the place has been ransacked again," Sapphire remarked. "It'll give him an excuse not to come into work for awhile."

"I've been meaning to ask why he works in that office. Not that he actually works, I understand that he mostly uses Charms to slow down actual progress, but..."

"Quill has a lot of responsibilities," Sapphire shrugged. "I think the Permit Office is sort of his way of thumbing his nose at bureaucracy. It's a place where he can be inefficient and blow everyone off without really hurt anything."

"I'm sorry. You lost me when you used the words "Quill" and "responsibility" in the same sentence," I replied.

"You don't know him like I do," Sapphire informed me.

"Maybe not," I admitted. I sat down beside her and looked up at the Unconquered Sun. He had a very peculiar expression on his face, a good-natured grin.

"I wonder about our Zenith," Sapphire mused.

"So do I."

"But don't you remember the First Age?" Sapphire pressed.

"Not everything," I sighed. "And sometimes not the things I wish I remembered."

"It seems unfair," Sapphire admitted. "I mean, we have all of this power and yet we're still..."

"Helpless?" I suggested. It was the last look on my father's face that came to mind as I answered her. His expression was something I would not soon forget. How could I apologize for something I'd never asked for? I couldn't feel the way that I knew my father would want me to feel, ashamed of what I was! It had taken me ten years to understand that I hadn't been cursed or damned, but given the greatest gift and most daunting responsibility imaginable.

We sat for awhile in silence. "We're not meant to face everything alone, Sapphire. That's why we have our Circle. We balance each other. Strengths and weaknesses." It was something Recluse had told me, and it felt very true as I repeated it.

"But our Circle's not complete! It's broken!" Sapphire protested.

"It won't always be broken," I reminded her.

"Maybe not, but how long can it hold out the way it is?" She demanded.

I had no answer for that. I stood up.

"Where are you going?" Sapphire asked.

"I don't know. I think I need to be alone for awhile," I confessed.

"This is a good place to be alone," she said, standing up herself. "I've got work to do anyway. You can sit here."

With a salute and a smile, Sapphire left.

I sat on the ground in front of the Unconquered Sun. The expression on the statue did not change. I tried to remember the feeling I'd captured on the battlefield, the connection I'd felt that made me certain of what I was, and what I was meant to do. I needed that burning clarity, but all I could feel was the cold, and some water dripping on my head.

An uneasy feeling crept into my bones. I couldn't hear any one voice clearly, but there were whispers in the air around me.

 _He's not listening._

 _He never listens._

 _Doesn't care._

"Are you talking to me?" I demanded.

There was no response, not for a long while.

And then, right in my ear... a woman's voice.

 _Mother will listen._

I leapt to my feet and ran away from the Temple as fast as I could.


	29. Chapter 28 - True Believers (Loren)

**Chapter** **28**

 **True** **Believers**

Recluse arrived back in Nexus the following evening, and Quill sauntered into Anathema's sometime after sundown. The four of us, including myself and Sapphire, took the small room in the back, started drinking heavily and then began to argue, probably louder than we should have, about Recluse's incomplete geomantic reconstruction of the Well of Udr.

Though we still hadn't found the hearthstone that belonged to the fifth manse, which was the underground temple that housed the huge statue of the Unconquered Sun, Quill was convinced that we could proceed with only four stones. Recluse complained at length about not knowing the whereabouts of his protoscemaic vortex, and argued that we needed more time, even with the beginning of Calibration only a day away. The conversation, which had begun in relatively egalitarian Low Realm, which we all spoke, had devolved quickly into Old Realm, and then into a full-on shouting match between Quill and Recluse.

The construct, Godchaser, eager to defend her Maker's position, had completely disregarded her orders to behave like an inanimate article of clothing and was flying around the room protesting shrilly every time Quill opened his mouth.

"You are a complete ignoramus!" She scolded him. "Ignoramus!" Godchaser repeated. "Stupid like a Dragonblood!"

Sapphire cackled. I grimaced, knowing that someone outside had surely heard her hyena laugh. It carried through walls.

That was when the door opened. Godchaser immediately dropped to the floor, Recluse stopped tinkering and Quill whistled, casually tossing his hearthstone circlet into Elsewhere.

"Four Solars in one little room, and not a single Charm to prevent eavesdropping?" Amira grinned wickedly, her hands on her hips.

"Lying low?" Roach remarked. It was the first I'd seen of him in weeks. I hoped he wasn't still sore about me dismissing him along with Amira when we'd reconvened the Three Circles Society and began work on repairing the Well.

I sighed and buried my head in my hands. Roach sat down beside me.

"You know, I gotta admit that I was upset when you kicked me out of your last little meeting." He remarked, surveying our growing collection of empty wine bottles. "But if this is what you four usually do when you're alone... I feel better about missing out."

"Everyone out there can hear you right now. Viper wants you to tone it down." Amira announced, her eyes fixed firmly on Quill and Veritas. "And the carpet needs to shut up."

Godchaser peeked up over the edge of the table, looking confused. When she realized that Amira had been referring to her, she gasped in horror. "Carpet? Maker! Did you hear what she just called me?"

"You _were_ on the floor," Quill reminded her.

Recluse laughed slightly himself.

"Maker! It's not funny! You're horrible!" The construct scowled.

"Well, I suppose we're very nearly done with business," Quill sighed. "Any last notes?"

"A couple of suspicious-looking men in Winds uniforms. Saw them down by Fishmarket earlier," Roach supplied.

"Sidereals," Recluse snorted.

"You think everything is Sidereals," Roach reminded him.

"Thanks for the information," I said.

"I'm glad I could help," he replied. Despite how badly we'd treated him, he seemed perfectly happy to be sitting with all of us.

Sapphire nodded. "Val's handling everything through the University. On the surface, it all looks official and approved, so no one should be alarmed if any of us are seen going in or out of the manses. So long as we're not glowing," She added with an impish grin.

"I don't like that I haven't still met this Val character." I admitted.

"Val is trustworthy," Recluse informed me. "And with the Scarlet Legion currently in town, _you_ need to be keeping your head down, Faeslayer!"

I paused. Of course, Sapphire knew that I'd gotten into some trouble the previous night, but I hadn't explained how or why. Her mouth widened into an "o" as she realized why I hadn't said anything.

"You didn't!" She gaped. "Oh, Kitten said you went looking for trouble but... all those dead Dragonbloods? That was you?"

"No, I didn't kill anyone! It was that horrible little girl!" I protested.

"So you _were_ there?" Recluse raised an eyebrow in my direction.

"Stupid!" Amira scolded, whapping me hard across the back of the head with her stick. I hadn't seen her produce it and I didn't see her spirit it away.

"I wasn't trying to start anything! I didn't even burn any Essence until that girl started killing everyone!" I protested.

"What _girl_?" Recluse whispered uneasily.

"I don't know! A little girl dressed in old funeral robes! She has chains coming out of her back. They move like they've got a mind of her own. She feels wrong, like something that doesn't belong in Creation... but she's not fae," I explained. "She has a mark on her. It looks like my Caste Mark, except that's black and it bleeds."

"Shoatie," Quill's expression soured.

"Shoatie?" I echoed. The name he gave sounded childish and absurd, which was all the more reason for me to be paranoid. If I'd learned one thing since coming to Nexus, it was that some of the most terrifying denizens of the Scavenger Lands were known by similarly innocuous monikers like "Recluse".

"The Shoat of the Mire. She's a Deathknight in the service of a Deathlord called the Dowager." He clarified.

I knew vaguely what a Deathlord was, a powerful being from the Underworld like the Mask of Winters who'd torn his way through the city of Thorns. I knew also that keeping such monsters from despoiling Creation was something that fell to Solars to take care of, but beyond that could remember nothing.

"I understand why we've got to watch out for Sidereals," I admitted. "They wanted us overthrown in the first place, and they definitely want to keep us from activating the Well of Udr. But what do Deathlords have to do with any of this?"

"I might know the answer to that," Veritas admitted.

"Oh?" Sapphire prompted.

"In my notes on the Well, I... I specifically didn't tell any of you, but I think Perfect consulted with someone else who was working on a similar project. Secretly. The rest of you were not supposed to know," Recluse explained.

"Recluse, what were you thinking? What if there are dozens of these things? They could be underneath every city in Creation!" I protested.

"No, no... there's just one. And it's incomplete. A prototype. The Dowager can't pass through it... she can only look into it and see what's happening." Recluse explained.

"The Dowager?" Quill demanded. "You traded secrets with a Deathlord!"

"Don't act like you wouldn't have done the same, you devious bastard! And it was before the Usurpation... she wasn't a Deathlord then!" Recluse snapped. "More importantly, you have a nickname for this thing! What is _Shoatie_ , exactly?"

"Quill? _Explain,_ " Sapphire turned to face him, her hands on her hips.

He sighed heavily in defeat. "There's a reason the Shoat's Caste Mark reminded you of your own, Loren. The Deathlords used to be Solars. And they made the Deathknights... by taking other Solars and... well, torturing them."

"What?" I gaped at him, though I knew that he wasn't lying.

Roach gave a low whistle. "So how exactly does a Solar _become_ a Deathlord?"

"That's easy. They choose to serve the Neverborn instead of the Unconquered Sun." Quill took a long drink of his wine. "The Neverborn are starved for Solars. They'd like to have all of us under their power. It would make it much easier for them to pitch Creation right into Oblivion if we didn't insist upon getting in their way. The Neverborn will give you just about anything if you're willing to serve them. I hear that the yozi have extended a similar sort of offer. As has the Weeping Maiden."

"You can't be serious! Using the kind of power we have to help the Fae or demons or the Underworld... it would mean betraying _everyone_ in Creation!" I protested. "Who would do something like that?"

"An innocent little girl, afraid to die?" Quill paused. "Can any of you honestly claim that you've never felt like you were _cursed_ , or wished that you were _dead_?"

Roach grinned and raised his hand. Recluse shot him a black look, but Amira laughed.

"Hah! We should let Roach talk more often! Mortals are awesome!" She tousled my hair. I'd never heard anything positive about Roach from Amira before, and from the way he beamed at her, I guessed that Roach actually appreciated Amira's somewhat demeaning complement.

Still, it was a serious mess that we were in, and I couldn't easily forget what had happened at my cousin's house. All of us sat in silence. The Shoat's soulless eyes still burned in the back of my mind.

"No, you can't go in there!" Viper protested. I leapt to my feet.

Amira jumped as the door opened behind her and Roach reached for his sword. Quill lowered his eyes and crushed his wineglass into pieces. He seemed to recognized the man who'd just shoved Viper aside and sat down in the empty seat across from me. Sapphire looked especially nervous.

The stranger was tall and thin with a long curled mustache and short cropped dark hair with only the faintest frostings of silver. His black clothes were extremely fine and embroidered all over with tiny characters in green and silver, like the text of an entire box full of documents torn apart and dumped on top of each other. A fine, white silk scarf was tossed casually around his neck. His eyes did not match. One was emerald colored and the other was entirely black and blind-looking with several Old Realm symbols tattooed underneath it. A large raven came to perch on his shoulder, watching me with eyes full of intelligence.

He surveyed the four of us with a very broad grin, and I realized immediately that he was not a man at all, but a god.

"Dorian Gray," Quill observed. "I was wondering when you'd make an appearance."

"I've heard that you've been up to no good again, you nuisance," He remarked casually. "And of course, I recognize Heartsblood and little miss Sapphire. Who are your new friends?"

"Call me Veritas," Veritas offered his hand.

"Hm." Dorian observed. He obviously did not intend to shake it.

"Why, if it isn't the legendary Cathak Loren!" Master Dorian smirked. "The last I heard from Mnemon Rai Jin, you were killed by some Anathema. If you're alive as you seem to be, shouldn't you be rejoining your unit? Though I do wonder about the company you keep."

"Something came up," I lied. "A… special mission."

Roach rolled his eyes. "Well, that's one way to put it. Master Dorian, Loren wasn't killed by the Faeslayer. He _is_ the Faeslayer."

"Ahah!" Dorian's mischievous grin widened. "Another Solar in my city? Why, the lot of you are springing up like mushrooms in a pile of shit! And fancy meeting you here, preacher!" Master Dorian turned to Roach. Roach looked as if he desperately wished he could make himself invisible.

" _Preacher_?" I stared. "Roach?"

"Um… there's something I've been meaning to tell you about?" He admitted nervously.

"Out with it," I said. I didn't know how long it had been since I'd last sat down and held a conversation with my old friend, but it seemed like an awful lot had happened that I wasn't aware of. Amira and Roach actually getting along didn't seem to be the most unlikely change either.

"I started something," he admitted.

"Without telling me?" I pressed.

"I haven't seen you in weeks! You go off to save the world, and you tell me to go back to the bar! Granted, it's a good bar to be left at... but what am I supposed to do, sit on my hands and wait for you to come back? I'm not stupid, Loren, and I know there's something big brewing here. I wanted to help you and I figured the best way to do that would be to get some people together who were actually willing to work with Solars. I started out with the Murqai who helped us get into the city. You remember Salakhin, right? Well, he had some friends, and his friends had some friends... and now there's a lot of us."

"That still doesn't explain why Dorian called you _preacher_ ," I informed him.

"Well, my Murqai cousins are all kinda zealous and spending so much time with them... I guess I just fell back into it," Roach paused. "It got out of hand, and I'm in charge now. Of all the local Murqai. And... some other believers."

 _"Illuminated_ _heresy,_ " Quill grinned very broadly. From the way Roach reacted, I knew that Quill had hit the nail right on the head.

"Roach!" I sighed heavily.

"You have a problem with your friend worshipping the God who Exalted _you_?" Veritas pressed.

"I…" I couldn't find words. "It's dangerous!"

"In case you haven't noticed, Faeslayer… being anywhere in your proximity is dangerous. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work upstairs to get back to." He excused himself. Godchaser fluttered after him, sweeping over his shoulders and resuming her "cloak" appearance just as he stepped out into the bar.

"I'm going to go check on Viper, okay?" Amira stood up from the table. Until she said something, I hadn't noticed that our bartender had disappeared… and when I realized that she was gone, I remembered what Amira had said about there being some bad blood between Viper and Dorian.

"Well, I suppose I should mention it's nearly midnight," Dorian remarked casually.

"Crap!" Roach threw out his chair.

Dorian bowed. "Run along, preacher! Your congregation awaits!"

I jumped up to follow Roach. After what I'd just learned I wasn't about to let him go anywhere without supervision. Spurred on by Dorian's warning, he was making pretty impressive pace across the Whispering Bridge headed for the Fishmarket Docks.

"Okay, Roach. Where's this cult of yours?" I asked.

"Look, Loren, I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to come with me," Roach sighed.

"I promise, I won't say a word," I vowed.

"Are you kidding? Salakhin will recognize you right away! And he won't be the only one! Half of Nexus knows you're a Solar, Boss!" Roach shook his head, standing with his back against a peculiar-looking door. I knew immediately that we'd already come to the place and Roach was just stalling for time. "And that's not my fault!" He protested. "You keep saving people!" He reminded me.

"Don't make me pick you up and carry you inside!" I warned him.

Seeing several Bronze Pioneers out on patrol, Roach sighed and quickly unlocked the door. I pushed him aside and went down the stairs.

"All right, although I'm warning you! You might be a little... _overwhelmed,_ " Roach finished. He opened the door and the two of us slipped into the building.

Whatever I had been expecting, nothing could have compared me for what I saw. The room was twice the size of the building it was located beneath and absolutely filled with people, at very least a hundred, from all walks of life. Fishermen, local merchants, prostitutes and more than a few soldiers. Roach had certainly been busy. And on the far wall overlooking the entire "temple" was a huge white sheet bearing an image that I hadn't seen in over a thousand years. It was the Unconquered Sun.

I stared. It was all I could do. I'd expected a hovel filled with the usual cult miscreants and malcontents, maybe dressed in ridiculous robes or stripped completely naked. What I hadn't anticipated was that there would be real power in that place. Whatever Roach and his Murqai friends were saying… there was no doubt in my mind that the Unconquered Sun was hearing it.

More importantly, he _knew_ that I had just walked into his temple. I felt a distinct nudge of approval and almost tumbled down the stairs. I didn't often sense the God's presence, but when I did, it was impossible to ignore.

"So, what do you think?" Roach pressed.

"I don't believe it," I whispered in awe.

"Me neither. A lot of heretics in this city, eh?" He smirked.

"No… well, yes! But that's not what I meant! Roach, he's _here_! The Unconquered Sun is watching us!"

"Heh," Roach smiled slightly, as if he thought that maybe I was humoring him. "That's cool."

All eyes were on Roach. He waved. "Sorry I'm late. And as you can see, I brought a friend. Most of you already know who he is." He discreetly elbowed me in the back and I stumbled forward. The room fell completely silent.

"This is your cult!" I hissed. "What do you want me to say?"

The silence was unnerving. I cleared my throat. "Hello," I couldn't really finish the sentence that I'd begun, but the murmur that raced through the room made it seem an awful lot like I'd said something both brilliant and controversial.

"Oi, you sound like an idiot!" Roach brushed me aside. "Go ahead, turn on your flashy light!"

"What?" I hissed.

"The flashy light on your head?" Roach clarified.

"Roach!" I gaped at him. "In front of all of these people?"

"Oh, c'mon! I know it's not hard!" He rolled his eyes.

"I can't believe I'm doing this for you!" I groaned, took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Oddly enough, expending just the smallest bit of Essence made me feel more comfortable, sort of like opening a window to let in some fresh air.

I waited for all of the cursing and expressions of shock to die down and then looked up. I was surrounded in a faint haze of gold that made me feel like a target. Even when I rose through the ranks of the army, I had never adopted the ostentatious dress that so many officers did. I wasn't interested in being highly visible… and by extension, more likely to be shot. And if I had learned nothing from our raid on Sesus Nagezzer's compound and my brief tussle with the Shoat of the Mire, there was nothing in all of Creation more impossible to ignore than someone blazing with Solar Essence in the middle of the night.

When the light around me didn't fade, the whispering started up again. There was obviously some confusion, some doubt as to whether I really was what I appeared to be, and if so… was it safe to be anywhere near me?

"Yeah, I can hear what you're all whispering. Is he really a demon?" Roach sighed. "All his life, Loren asked the Dragons, "What can I do?" How can I serve you? Do you want me to pray? Do you want me to fight monsters and help people? He did everything he was supposed to do right, but he never got Chosen. He risked his own life to save his brother and that was when the Unconquered Sun decided he needed him. That didn't sit well with Loren at first. You see, he hasn't always been a believer. He really thought that he'd turned into a demon, but he still kept protecting all of us, even when he thought that we might kill him."

"I know how hard it is to accept that Solars even exist. But if you want to be a part of this, if you really believe in what we're trying to do here, then sooner or later you're going to have to recognize that this isn't some little heresy that's going to get you thrown in the stocks. This is _big_. This is bigger than Nexus, bigger than the whole Realm! All of Creation is going to change," Roach continued. "Everything you've been told is wrong! The Dragonbloods are trying to wipe out "Anathema", not because they're evil, but because they don't want the rest of us to get the idea that _we_ can be as good as _they_ are!" Roach paused, glancing slowly in my direction. "Or _better_."

He gestured to a group of Murqai in the back of the room and I recognized Salakhin amongst them. They threw their firsts in the air and shouted " _Shams Majeed!"_ loud enough that I worried the Bronze Pioneers on the streets above must have heard something.

"You all know that a Solar rebuilt that fountain in Glassmaker's Alley. And you _also_ know that Solars chased Sesus Nagezzer out of town and rescued those girls that bastard had sold to the Fae! Some of you who live down in Tellnaught have seen dead hagfish floating in the sewers. So the next time you see one of Shadowsbane's exterminators, thank them for their good work!"

One of the Murqai proudly pointed to the armband he wore which had the emblem of the University of Nexus on it and in red the word "Firewander". Everyone applauded him and he grinned very broadly. The applause was deafening. As one of the Murqai took the center stage for a sermon, Roach and I slipped back upstairs and out the door.

"Looks like you've got a gift," I smiled slightly.

"I don't know," Roach shrugged. "Maybe I can't stop armies of faeries dead in their tracks, but I can spread the good word a little. That I can do."

"It's… a little bit much, don't you think? I'm not as good as you make me out to be!" I sighed. "And I don't think all Solars are the salvation of Creation. Look at Quill! He's a lunatic!"

"Quill can be a jerk, but he is also a genius. He knows who's cheating who, who's in who's pocket... and he _makes_ everyone behave! Well, he lets people get away with an awful lot, but when someone crosses a serious line like Nagezzer, he's on them right away. I watched him beat some crooked politicians at mahjong a few weeks ago. He kept raising the stakes until they had to turn themselves into the authorities and confess!" Roach laughed.

"The Dragonbloods want to kill off all the Solars for a reason, Roach!" I protested.

"Yeah, because they're mostly bastards," he scoffed.

"Maybe so," I admitted uneasily. "I think there might be something wrong with us."

"Why are you so paranoid?" Roach laughed. "You and Veritas both!"

"So what do you know about this Dorian?" I decided to change the subject.

"Not much," Roach admitted. "He's the most powerful man in the city besides the Emissary. Some people say he is the Emissary."

"Ah." I observed. "And you don't think so?"

"Uh, I caught him talking to the Emissary on the roof of Anathema's about a week ago. Didn't hear what they were going on about but... it's safe to say they're _not_ the same person. Dorian definitely seems to have a stake in this city but Viper's pretty convinced that he shouldn't get too much more power. In the position he's in now, Dorian's sort of… contained, basically. He can't do as much as he wants to, and that's probably a good thing." Roach admitted.

"Did Viper tell you what she has against Dorian?" I wondered.

"Not specifically, but then again… I didn't really ask her," He shrugged. "But there's no way you should trust that guy. Viper likes everybody, even the people she pretends to hate. If she _really_ doesn't like someone, they're bad news."

"You've been spending a lot of time at Anathema's lately. Almost as much time as you've been spending with this cult of yours," I paused.

"I can't help it, Loren! You've met Viper! How does any man say no to a woman like that? She's hilarious, she cooks like you wouldn't believe, she wants to spend _all_ _day_ in bed, _and_ she tosses the drunks out of her own bar! I'm in love."

I sighed. "Viper's a Lunar, Roach. An _old_ Lunar."

"So? C'mon buddy, gimme some advice! How do you get a woman like that?"

"No, Roach. I'm not going to help you get yourself into more trouble!" I informed him flatly.

"What about you and Amira?" He protested.

"It's different!"

"Really? How is it different?" He demanded.

I didn't really have an argument for him, nothing that would sound convincing. And so despite how bad it made me feel… I settled for the truth. "Because I'm a Solar!"

"That's it? Well, your father was an Exalt and your mother wasn't! You always told me that you thought it was wrong, tossing a person out on the street like a piece of old furniture. Those people you used to hate so much? You'd better watch out, cause you're turning into one of them!" Without another word, Roach stomped off.

I was about to follow him when a hand stopped me. I turned very slowly and saw that Dorian Gray had just slipped out of the hidden temple.

"Let him go. I need to talk to you," Dorian remarked dryly, examining his nails with an expression on his face that I did not like at all. "In private."

"What do you want?" I demanded.

"Now we're getting somewhere!" He bowed cordially in my direction. "Faeslayer, as you already know... I am a god and no petty one either. I have a seat on the Convention on Bureaucratic Corruption in Yu Shan and I also work for the Division of Secrets and the Bureau of Destiny in another capacity which I am not at liberty to reveal to you... _yet_. Tonight I come on behalf of the one man who can give me an order that I am _compelled_ to obey. Tomorrow is the first night of Calibration, and as you well know, a very secret organization known as the Three Circles Society will be meeting. Until such time as this meeting is called to order, His Mysteriousness, the Emissary of Nexus, politely requests that you and your companions _limit_ your usual Anathema activities. The Scarlet Legion is going to be combing this city looking for you and your cohorts and they had best not find you, no matter what kind of lengths they go to in order to draw you out. In other words, keep your branded heads down."

"I will do what I want," I paused, searching the God's face for some sort of reaction. From what Recluse had told me, I had good reason to believe that the Emissary was a Solar. At first I'd believed that one of my Circlemates was actually the infamous masked man, but the more I'd come to know Quill and Recluse, the more I'd begun to doubt that possibility. "Tell the Emissary that he can come talk to me."

"Oh, he will. Eventually," Without another word, Dorian vanished.

I passed by Anathema's a little while later and noticed Roach standing on the corner talking to Viper. Though I knew I needed to get some sleep, I couldn't bring myself to lie down.

I decided that Veritas was probably down in the undercity with Godchaser, working his hands to the bone... using every Charm that he knew to speed his progress. It had been Quill's last minute decision to move the entire control mechanism of the Well of Udr from its temporary home under Nighthammer back to its original location, which was not where Sapphire had discovered it in the Temple of The Unconquered Sun, but where Recluse's records indicated that it had been built, a massive ruin inside the Firewander District called "White Gold Tower". White Gold Tower was the manse that was connected to Recluse's green hearthstone. It was also the location of the Solar Sanctuary that the Red Queen that had been so eager to discover how to get into. So many things were finally coming together in ways that I did not like at all.

I did, however, agree with Quill on one count. If there was a chance that activating the Well could have catastrophic consequences, it would by much safer for us to do so inside White Gold Tower where the Sanctuary and Wyld surrounding us could prevent any damage from spreading out into Nexus.

The spell that had created the Sanctuary was Adamant Circle Sorcery, and despite being cast more than 1,500 years ago, it had preserved a small section of White Gold Tower from the ravages of the Wyld. Needless to say, Recluse was inordinately proud of his past incarnation's accomplishment and spent many hours praising the brilliance of her sorcery and liberal use of a Charm he called "the Art of Permanence". Because of Perfect's efforts before the fall of the Deliberative, White Gold Tower had been only manse that we hadn't needed to excavate.

I hadn't actually seen the Solar Sanctuary yet myself, but I'd heard Recluse and Godchaser whispering about it so I knew its general location. It was dangerous walking right into Firewander alone, but I was prepared to draw my daiklave on anything that got in my way.

I didn't expect Roach to actually follow me into Firewander, knowing full well that there was some Solar mess fermenting beneath the streets of Nexus that he had no part in.

As per usual, I seriously underestimated him.

Roach caught up with me on the edge of Firewander. I was standing near the district wall, trying to prepare myself to enter the Wyld and deal with whatever welcoming committee the Fae had surely assembled for me. Late as it was, there were only two city guards and a few Bronze Pioneers on patrol. It wasn't too hard to keep people out of Firewander. Anyone with sense avoided the Fae-infested district like the plague.

"Boss!" Roach hissed, racing up to match pace with me.

"Roach? What are you doing here?" I demanded.

"Coming with you." He informed me, as if that wasn't obvious.

"Roach, you can't just walk into the Wyld!" I fell silent.

Roach was staring at me with his hands on his hips. He didn't look convinced by my excuse.

"And _you_ can?" He pressed.

"Well, with um... _Chaos-Repelling_ _Pattern_?" I admitted. It had taken me forever to learn the Charm from Quill, but I had to admit that it was a very useful one.

"Which will _also_ protect me if I stay right next to you!" Roach informed me with a smirk, striding forward so that we stood shoulder to shoulder.

"How did you know that?" I wondered. There was no sense in telling him that he was wrong, because he already knew that he wasn't.

"Godchaser. That carpet knows _everything,_ " Roach informed me. "Loren, you don't know what the fae have got waiting for you in there. You're better off with someone watching your back!" He added.

"I don't want you to get hurt," I informed him.

"And I don't want me to get hurt either! So we're completely in agreement," he replied.

I rolled my eyes. The two of us stood and stared up at the ominous iron gates that barred off the entrance to the Firewander District. Knowing how much what I was about to do would infuriate Roach, I leapt effortlessly to the top of the wall.

Roach made a face. I thought for a moment that he was about to start yelling at me and maybe wake the guards, but then a rope flew over my head, a steel clawed grappling hook catching in the crevasse between two bricks. I stared in disbelief as Roach quickly zipped up to join me on the top of the wall. I didn't have the opportunity to ask him where he'd learned the trick he'd just picked up. He tied a red scarf around his head marked with the telltale insignia of Sapphire's infamous "Team Firewander".

"You have been busy," I observed. Between tending to his cult, spying on Quill and Veritas, practically moving in with Viper, and joining up with Sapphire's sewer slayers... was there anything Roach hadn't gotten involved in?

"If you'd just let me stick with you, I wouldn't have to go looking for other things to do!" He informed me.

"All right, I'm sorry!" I sighed in defeat. "I was wrong not to tell you what was going on," I paused. "Actually, I was wrong about a lot of things."

He smiled slightly. "And you were right about... some _other_ things." He informed me, not looking very pleased with his own confession. He didn't say what had gone wrong, and I didn't press. I guessed it had to do with Emerald Viper.

We entered the Firewander District. I invoked my Charm and as he'd vowed, Roach kept right on my heels inside of the faintly flickering sphere of golden light, his sword drawn.

Around us was a vast sea of black, red and purple. Nothing seemed to have a shape, and even the ground looked like rolling thunderclouds, except within ten feet of where I stood. Rippling pools of Wyld became gray paving stones, not the kind that were commonly used in the Nexus that we knew so well, but the kind that were everywhere more than 1,500 years ago. Obviously, no one had set foot in the part of Firewander that we were exploring in quite awhile.

Though I expected that the two of us would have to fight our way to White Gold Tower, not a single fae monster moved to stop us on our path. I could see the shapes of goblins sometimes in the dark, but it was as if they were only watching, not preparing for battle. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of drifting through formless nothingness, we came within sight of White Gold Tower.

Surrounded by an aura of blazing gold, the Solar Sanctuary, it was everything I'd imagined that it would be, a spectacular building. Perfect had a way of designing spaces that made anyone who stepped inside of them feel unforgivably small and insignificant, and White Gold Tower, her palatial residence, was even more impressive than her factory cathedral manse.

"We're being followed," Roach informed me.

I stopped staring at the tower immediately and went for my daiklave. It was cumbersome to carry strapped to my back and no swords are really made for drawing up over the shoulder, but I hadn't been sure that all of my Charms would work inside of the Firewander Wyld so I'd come prepared.

"Come out!" I ordered to the Wyld. "We know you're there!"

I expected some goblins, or maybe a very arrogant fae lord... but what did emerge from the swirling miasma of purple and black was something even darker than the malevolent churning Wyld.

The chaos seemed to solidify around the Deathknight in a sphere noticeably similar to the one I used to keep it at bay.

The Shoat of the Mire observed Roach with a malicious little smile on her face and one of her usually invisible chains snaked out of her funerary robes. I was too fast for her, parrying the blade before it would have taken Roach's head clean off... but apparently the Shoat hadn't come alone. A quick-moving shadow dropped down from somewhere above and Roach let out an incoherent curse as a black steel mace crushed the stone under my feet with the force of a battering ram.

"Sister!" The Shoat exclaimed joyfully, and I got my first clear look at the woman who'd already almost killed me. She was even paler than the Shoat, obviously a dead thing with a face that might have been attractive once, except that her eyes lacked any spark of humanity and her lips were drawn back to reveal a mouth full of jagged teeth and uneven stitches.

The Shoat's "Sister" lost no time at all and nearly caught me again with her mace, but not before Roach decided that there was more than one good use for his new grappling hook. He threw the thing with so much force that it imbedded itself with a nasty squishing sound in the Shoat's back.

The Shoat grinned wickedly and took control of the new "chain" she'd been given, almost wrapping Roach up in his own rope, except that he cut it with his sword. As the Shoat pulled back, something in the Wyld seized hold of Roach's flailing rope, and caused it to lose all physical integrity.

She fired two of her chains in my direction and a third at Roach, who hit the ground, almost tumbling into the Wyld. I had more trouble than I could handle with Sister and was busy parrying the Deathknight's flurry of blows.

Roach staggered to his feet. He elbowed me in the ribs, and I looked exactly where he must have wanted me to... in the direction of White Gold Tower. Were we closer than we had been before? It certainly seemed that way.

Though I didn't want to risk leaving Roach behind, I had to admit that he had a good point. I waited until the Shoat tried her chains for the third time. Roach drove his sword through one link of the chain, pinning it to the ground and I took advantage of the opportunity to send Sister flying with the flat of my blade. I would have given the Deathknight the edge of the weapon and killed her if I could have, but we'd somehow been transported miraculously right onto the steps of White Gold Tower and there was not enough space in the doorway for me to get a good swing.

Still parrying the Shoat, I almost didn't notice when her blows stopped connecting with my daiklave. Somehow, Roach and I were both standing inside of the Solar Sanctuary. The Wyld still raged only a few feet away, but we'd made it to White Gold Tower.

The Shoat and her Sister both watched us where we stood and hesitantly paced the perimeter of the the ancient spell. The Shoat gingerly reached out to touch the fluxing energies. The tips of her little white fingers almost passed through the golden Essence, but then she leapt back ten feet and hissed viciously, extending all of her chains at once. She glanced up in the direction of Sister and the two Deathknights slowly began to back away.

"So... Deathknights?" Roach observed, catching his breath.

"Obviously," I nodded, not taking my eyes off the two.

"I thought you said there was just that little girl. How many are there anyway?" Roach demanded.

I grimaced. "With our luck? Probably more of them than us."

Though the Deathknights were still slowly walking away, I didn't fool myself into thinking that they wouldn't return... or look for another way inside White Gold Tower. After trading blows with the Shoat of the Mire once, I was not inclined to test her "Sister" without someone, preferably Recluse, backing me up.

"Yeah, that's right! You'd better run!" Roach hooted, picking up a chunk of marble and flinging it in the general direction of the Deathknights. They looked genuinely confused, but not really impressed.

I smiled despite myself and patted Roach on the back.

"You should probably know that monster killed four of my father's best men!" I informed him.

He beamed. "I'm gonna risk it. Hey, snaggletooth!" He shouted, hurling a second piece of marble. For the second time, he missed, and before he could find himself a third projectile, the Deathknights reached the bottom of the stairs and disappeared into the swirling darkness of the Wyld.

They obviously had tricks for enduring it as well as any Solar or a Lunar could, and that worried me.

What worried me more was that the fae, despite the fact that they'd clearly been expecting us, had not made any sort of moves at all.

Roach and I entered into the main audience hall of White Gold Tower. It was an awe-inspiring space designed with a color palette that explained its name. In the center of the room where Quill had helped Recluse to move it was the control mechanism for the Well of Udr, the table and five chairs around it, set upon a raised dias about twenty feet in diameter and three feet high.

The top of the table was open. A faint blue flicker of light rose from the Well. Of course, I knew that the substance within was not water, but some sort of Elsewhere muck, a flimsy section of the fabric of reality that our previous incarnations had isolated and turned into a gateway beyond Fate.

Though I wouldn't admit such a thing to Roach, I was more than a little nervous to be stepping into it. I obviously wasn't the only one feeling some trepidation. There were more than a dozen people mulling around White Gold Tower, all of them casting furtive glances in the direction of the Well when they suspected that no one else was looking.

Sapphire and Quill were absorbed in a serious game of Gateway, which Sapphire seemed to be losing badly. Viper was lounging on Amira's lap, and Silvermane was standing guard near the door I had entered through. Very close to the Well, a fox Lunar I'd never seen before was arguing with a bespectacled scholar in a gray robe with a high collar. When the scholar lifted his arm to scratch his nose, he revealed sleeves of moonsilver tattoos that completely covered every inch of his skin. I knew immediately that he could only be Sapphire's friend Val, the University professor.

"Trouble, Faeslayer?" Silvermane smiled slightly.

"Deathknights," I informed him. "I doubt they can actually get in here, but they seemed very intent on killing us before we reached the doors."

"Hm. That doesn't bode well," he paused. "I'll send some Resplendent Whirlagigs out to look for them. Veritas has worked out a very clever way to make our surveillance devices immune to the Wyld."

"Where is Recluse anyway?" I wondered. Silvermane coughed in a manner that suggested he didn't think he should be answering my question.

Surprisingly, one person I didn't see was the one who'd moved into White Gold Tower weeks ago. Noticing that I had arrived, Godchaser swooped over in my direction. "Maker!" The construct announced. "Faeslayer is here!"

There was a sudden thump, and that was when I realized where Recluse had been. He rolled off a couch in the corner and was furiously scrambling for his shirt, his belt, and his glasses. What surprised me more than his state of disarray was how attractive the woman he'd been fooling around with was. In fairness, Recluse wasn't bad-looking himself, but the lady who'd been in the process of undressing him was without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen in my life.

Her skin was honey-colored and absolutely flawless, as if she'd spent every day of her life soaking up the sun on some far away beach. Her eyes were almost black with long dramatic lashes, and her hair was a color that made me think of rich port wine, curls cascading all the way down her back.

As much as I loved Amira, I couldn't stop myself from staring. It wasn't helping matters that the only thing the woman was wearing was a shirt not quite long enough to be considered a dress and an orichalcum pendant in the shape of a radiant sun. If she'd stepped out in front of a Wyld Hunt just as she was then and declared herself a Solar, I rather suspected that all of the men and most of the women would have thrown down their weapons immediately.

In a word, she was _magnificent._

Roach gave a low whistle and took in all there was to see shamelessly, at least until he noticed Viper. Then he put his hands behind his back and pretended not to be the least bit interested.

"You must be Windswept Rhapsody," I observed.

"Guilty as charged," The woman winked mischievously. The way that she spoke reminded me a bit of Viper or Sapphire. Despite the fact that she looked like a queen, she sounded like someone who traded in certain kinds of dubious "favors" for a living.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Faeslayer. Veritas has told me so much. Oi, Devil!" She shouted.

"The lecherous old hag arguing with Professor Ferret over there is Clever Devil, my sister from another mother," Rhapsody explained, jerking her thumb in the direction of Sapphire's friend and the fox Lunar. The fox Lunar came bounding over to her side. Clever Devil was a much older woman, maybe even fifty, wearing simple, meticulously mended traveler's clothing. Her Tell was obviously the russet fur in her short-cropped hair. There were a lot of scars on her face and hands. She looked every bit as old as Rhapsody didn't, but I sensed somehow that the two of them balanced one another as only a Solar and Lunar pair ever could.

"I thought we moved the Well in order to keep it a secret?" I turned to Recluse, who blushed horrifically.

"You'd be surprised at how few secrets actually are _secret,_ " A familiar voice interrupted.

There was a stranger standing not four feet behind me. He was young and supremely nondescript, with the exception of his brilliant yellow eyes. But before I could inquire as to how he got into our Solar Sanctuary, which I was beginning to suspect not actually secure at all, Recluse noticed him.

"You again?" He groaned.

Godchaser wrinkled her nose. "What do you want, _Sidereal_?" The construct demanded.

"Ouch!" The stranger exclaimed. His appearance changed immediately, his hair becoming shorter and freckles appearing suddenly on his previously bland face. Before I could guess what had happened, I was left standing face-to-face with someone I did know, a young soldier I'd recruited into the Ravenous Winds.

"Sam?" Roach blinked in surprise, remembering the boy's name before I did.

"You know Sam?" Sapphire wondered.

"We do. He served with us in the Winds. Joined up about two years ago." Roach explained.

"That can't be right. Sam's a busboy at the Divine Peach. It's my favorite restaurant and he always does my table! He's been working there for five years!" Sapphire informed us.

"Oh, I'm sure we _all_ know Sam," Veritas snorted with distaste. "If that is his name."

"It is," Sam replied. "Not that you'd believe me."

"Playing every side there is to play, are you?" Quill demanded. He used a tone that I did not like at all. Even knowing what I did about Sidereals, I didn't believe they were as bad as both Veritas and Quill seemed to. I felt as though I should have sensed some sort of malice coming from Sam if he was anything but trustworthy. Odd as it seemed, I was more comfortable in the presence of the first Sidereal I had ever knowingly met than I was around my own Circlemate, Adamant Quill.

"Isn't that what you're doing, Quill?" Sam surveyed the room. Clever Devil shot him a paralyzing glare and the other Lunars did not seem happy to see him at all, except for Viper who gave him a wink that made me suspect she'd drug him off to bed more than once.

"How long have you been following us?" I asked uneasily.

Sam sighed heavily. "You in particular, or your Circle in general?"

"Both," Sapphire replied.

"I've been assigned to the four of you for the past five years. But you've all been followed for longer than that. All of you have been watched every day of your lives." Sam explained. "You must understand, one does not simply approach a Solar Exalt and say ' _Hello,_ _I_ _work_ _for_ _the_ _Bureau_ _of_ _Destiny!_ ' Generally speaking, Solars like being in control. And Sidereals like me are agents of Fate, which is the one thing that you cannot control. Understand?"

"I don't like the idea of being spied on," I remarked.

"No one does. Which is why we try to be very quiet about what we do," Sam explained. "The only reason I'm here now is that I have a message to relay."

"As Sidereals go, Sam is decent enough," Recluse admitted grudgingly. "As unbelievable as it may sound, he's actually helped me in the past. Go on, spit it out!" He ordered.

"I'm here on orders from Oversight," The Sidereal replied. "My superiors have instructed me to inform all of you that someone has accessed the Loom of Fate in a manner that is not permitted."

"Himitsu," Rhapsody interrupted.

I knew I'd heard that name before. Quill narrowed his eyes, and Recluse scowled.

Sam looked very surprised to hear that name spoken, but he nodded solemnly. "Heaven does not appreciate when its agents go rogue, and so the Convention on Oversight has determined that Himitsu should not be allowed to return to Creation. It is likely that he has an accomplice here in Nexus who may be helping him... possibly a Deathknight. But so far, nothing can be proven. Whoever is assisting him is clearly powerful and slippery... and committing a number of Severity Five offenses."

"That's bad?" Viper observed.

"Oh, you can be executed for a Severity Three!" Sam replied cheerfully.

Recluse grimaced. Personally, I still didn't know who Himitsu was, but Clever Devil and Windswept Rhapsody looked deathly serious. Obviously, he was someone that they didn't like at all.

"You're going to have to kill that Sidereal," Godchaser replied, sounding very certain. Then again, the construct always sounded certain. I supposed that nothing in her construction gave her the capacity for doubt.

"I would not recommend trading blows with him," Sam shook his head. "Himitsu is a master of several rare styles of martial arts. _Prismatic Rearrangement of Creation_ style in particular."

"Never heard of it," I admitted.

"Sidereal martial arts can be devastating," Veritas paused. "The rarest styles are on par with Adamant Circle sorcery."

"And this... "Prismatic"..." I began, not remembering the exact words Sam had rattled off.

"The rarest of the rare," Sam nodded solemnly.

"Well, we appreciate the warning," I sighed heavily.

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything more. You'll have to take it up with Whisper." Sam finished.

"Whisper's our chief nursemaid," Quill smirked, sauntering over in my direction. "You'll love her, Faeslayer. She's just as neurotic and easily embarrassed as you are."

I scowled and refrained from seizing his collar and smashing his face into the Well.

"She's also quite brilliant. And a very good actress, if you actually believe she's neurotic," Recluse added. Quill frowned.

"Suffice to say that there's really no telling what Himitsu is doing or what he's already done, but you need to carry through with your plans and activate the Well _tonight._ " Sam finished, not bothering to add his own opinion of his superior. "I'd go with you, naturally, but I'd need to complete a half dozen applications and waivers in triplicate."

"We don't need your help," Recluse smiled slightly.

"But you _do_ need us," Clever Devil interrupted.

Sapphire nodded. "This Well isn't the secret we thought it was, and right now too many of our enemies know where we've moved it. It's not just this "Himitsu" we need to look out for either. What about those Deathknights and the Red Queen?"

Veritas sighed. "This Solar Sanctuary may be difficult to get through, but it's not as strong as it once was. And if anything in this manse fails while we're inside the Well..."

I thought of what I'd seen the Shoat do, and I shuddered slightly.

"Certain parties have had some time to stew over how to get in here," Windswept Rhapsody remarked. "It would be idiocy to underestimate Himitsu."

"Or the Dowager," Val paused.

"Or the Red Queen," Viper added.

"We'll make sure that nothing comes after you from Creation, and nothing _except you_ escapes the Well," Silvermane said.

"I'm staying too. Devil and I can handle Himitsu if he rears his ugly little head. And we still owe him a ruthless beating!" Rhapsody volunteered. Recluse looked ready to protest, but Clever Devil gave him a condescending look.

"As much as I'd love to see what's over there, with ah, Veritas going, I should probably stay. I could, ah... well, I could probably fix anything that breaks? I am a Celestial Circle Sorcerer," Val volunteered.

"And _I'm_ a drunk!" Viper informed all of us, hiccuping. "The next time ya'll are saving the world, you gotta to warn me before I start taking _shots_ with Burning Feather!"

"You know, Calibration doesn't officially begin until midnight!" I reminded her, doubting that she was as drunk as she pretended to be. But then again, if she really had been drinking with the Goddess of Intoxicants, maybe she wasn't acting after all.

"Are you kidding?" Rhapsody laughed. "Viper's party started three days ago!"

"Boss, it _is_ almost midnight," Roach informed me.

"Well, I suppose that settles it. Time to do this," I paused. "Amira?"

"Oh, I'm going with you!" Amira grinned broadly. Quill seemed annoyed. It was obvious to me that he disliked Lunars as a rule, and Amira in particular.

"It would be unfair to not send along at least one representative of Sun-King Seneshals!" Silvermane added. "Someone needs to make sure that you Solars aren't doing anything unforgivably stupid.

Looping her arms around me, Amira waltzed in the direction of my chair in front of the Well, pushed me down and sat on my lap. The Well burbled slightly, and arcane symbols on the dias began to glow as Quill and Sapphire stepped up and took their seats.

All of the other Lunars kept a smart distance from circle. The Sidereal stood even further away, still watching us all with grin.

Recluse kissed Rhapsody twice, and she tousled his hair. Godchaser swooped around his shoulders and he sat down himself.

"All right then. Let's do this," He decided, putting on his circlet.

I clenched the hilt of my daiklave. If I didn't let it out of my grasp, I could guarantee that it would pass through the Well with us. Of course, Amira's deadly "stupid stick" was never out of her reach, formed into a bracelet around her right wrist that she kneaded nervously, perhaps wondering if it would be better to have the weapon drawn before we passed through the Well. Obviously thinking the same, Recluse had his lightning spear ready and Sapphire kept one hand on her firewands. Quill didn't have an obvious weapon, but then again... I'd never seen the madman in a situation that he couldn't confound his way out of.

Essence began to flow through the floor under our feet. I could feel some of it being drawn from my own body through the channels on the table and on the chair I was sitting in. The Well rippled and flickered.

That was when Roach sat down next to me. Recluse blanched. His Caste Mark had already begun to flicker, and I suspected that mine was doing the same.

"I'm coming too," Roach informed all of us, who were staring at him in shock.

"No, Roach, you _can't_!" I argued.

"Yes, I can... and you're not getting rid of me!" He replied.

"The Well draws a phenomenal amount of Essence and we've already started activating it! We can't stop now and we don't know how it will react once it's fully operational. It could drain the reserves of everyone here!" Recluse protested.

"So? I don't have Essence!" Roach replied proudly.

"That's why it's bad, you idiot!" Quill groaned. "You _do_ have Essence! All living things have Essence! Your Essence is your soul, but you don't have enough of it to _use_ it! If the Well drew the same amount of Essence from both of us, I'd have a mild headache and you'd be _dead_!"

"Feh! I have _way_ more soul than you!" Roach informed him.

I didn't have the opportunity to get in another word. Light blossomed up all around us, obscuring the faces of our protectors and finally the whole of White Gold Tower.

The last thing I saw was Sam smiling. He looked just like Quill always did, as if he knew much more than he was telling. I would have demanded answers from him if I guessed that he could hear me over the rushing sound of wind and water and the horrible, earth-shattering rumbling of the Well.

His eyes were fixed on Roach.


	30. Chapter 29 - Calibration (Veritas)

**Chapter 29**

 **The First Day of Calibration**

My head was pounding when I regained consciousness. I felt completely drained of Essence though I could sense that my Caste Mark wasn't even flickering. Godchaser's normally inconsequential weight had somehow quadrupled. With her tendrils looped all around me, I felt like I was encased in a sarcophagus of solid lead. I was certain that activating the Well had done _something_ horrible but I hadn't the foggiest idea what. That bothered me. I'd gotten very used to having all of the answers since meeting Sam, Whisper, and their Gold Faction cohorts. Information _was_ one thing Sidereals were good for. Of course, it wasn't wise to trust everything they said, but there were ways of separating the truth from the fiction.

"Godchaser?" I whispered. She didn't respond. Whatever had drained all of my Essence had rendered her inanimate. Once, I would have believed that her silence was a kind of death... but I'd learned a lot more about how my companion worked in the past several months and I knew that once she was full of Essence again, she'd be nagging me as if no time had passed at all.

I opened my eyes and saw absolutely nothing. A few choice curses escaped me. Was I blind?

A faint red haze on the edges of my field of vision suggested that the effect was temporary. I noticed a few blurry shapes lying on the floor around me. One of them was a petite woman, probably Sapphire. Faeslayer was unmistakable. He was still holding his daiklave.

Very slowly, the hearthstones I wore around my neck and in my circlet began to work, helping me to replenish my own Essence. I laid still for what must have been an hour, listening for anything that might tell me where I was or what had happened, but all I could hear was the familiar pulsing of the Well.

I was a little annoyed to realize that we hadn't gone anywhere, but at the same time very glad that I wouldn't be braving uncharted territory without my Essence or my sight.

When Godchaser's weight no longer held me pinned to the ground, I sat up slowly. I still couldn't see much, but I'd worked out the sound of someone breathing close to me.

Considering that whoever it was smelled very strongly of Emerald Viper's toxic "House Brew", I guessed that it was probably Roach.

"Ah, that was exciting!" Quill exclaimed, not sounding bothered by the ordeal we'd gone through at all. I heard the sound of his boots on the marble floor and realized he'd already been walking around. How long had the rest of us been unconscious? I didn't know, but several hours seemed like a safe guess. "Finally waking up, are we? Is everyone in one piece?" Quill inquired.

Neither Roach nor Amira responded, but Sapphire managed something that sounded like a strangled cat and Loren groaned.

"I can't see a blasted thing," I admitted. "But I'm awake, and I've been regaining some Essence."

"Your sight will come back. I probably should have warned you all to close your eyes when we activated the Well." Quill admitted.

"Wait, you knew this would happen?" Loren demanded. It sounded like he tried to use his daiklave to stand up... unsuccessfully.

Quill didn't answer him. "Ah, what a beautiful sunrise!" He exclaimed, obviously looking at something none of us could see. "You're really missing out!"

When I was finally able to stand, I rose to my feet. Loren was waking up Roach, who muttered something incoherent. Against all odds, he seemed to have fared as well as the rest of us.

"This way, everyone!" Quill proclaimed. Amira growled at him.

I didn't like the idea of following after the madman myself, but since I couldn't see, I realized that I didn't have much of a choice. A sense of familiarity came over me as I hobbled in the direction that I was being summoned, using my lightning spear as a cane and moving very slowly with my left hand on the outer wall of the room. We were still inside White Gold Tower!

But if we were in one of my manses, why did the geomancy I sensed when I touched the marble feel so different?

We followed Quill outdoors, into a space that I knew had once been a garden. The last I'd seen it, it had been infested with hagfish and festering pools of primordial muck. What worried me was that I hadn't felt the faintest pinprick of energy when we left the Tower proper. Where was the stability of the Solar Sanctuary erected to keep out the Wyld? Had we destroyed it by activating the Well? Was Quill planning on feeding the lot of us to the fae?

Those were the kind of thoughts that raced through my head, at least until Godchaser awoke.

"Ugh. I don't feel good!" She complained. "I need Essence!"

"So do I," I informed her. "You're going to have to wait." I reached up into my hood and put her mask down over my face.

"Maker!" As soon as she could see, she gasped in awe. "Oh, Maker, how did you do it?"

"I don't know what you're looking at, Godchaser," I informed her. "At present, I can't see. I apparently looked into a rather bright flash. Where are we?"

"White Gold Tower. Your garden, Maker!" She replied. "But it's beautiful! It's so beautiful!" Knowing Godchaser's particular tastes as well as I did, I was surprised to hear her say such a thing. Nothing much impressed her, unless it was gorgeous by the standards of the High First Age.

"Whoa!" Sapphire gave a low whistle. Apparently, she could see more than I could. "This is unbelievable! All of this was in ruins yesterday!"

"Pests detected. Exterminate," It was the voice of a construct, a hovering sphere much like my little Resplendent Whirlagigs. The larger models, however, had been built for more than simply reconnaissance. It trained a tiny but deadly Essence weapon on Loren, who blinked at it in confusion.

"What's going on?" He demanded.

"Oh. Oh dear," Quill observed.

"No! Bad WD456 2.1!" Godchaser scolded, swooping off of my shoulders. "No exterminating guests!"

"9HE2TD 3.0." The Whirlagig Drone observed. "Orders received. Extermination ceased." It hovered for a moment.

"9HE2TD 3.0." The Whirlagig Drone repeated. "Orders received. Pests. Exterminate."

"No! I just told you, they're _guests_! Guests, not pests!" Godchaser protested, her voice becoming very shrill.

"Drone WD456 2.1, why aren't you exterminating the pests?" It was Godchaser's voice I heard, but it was coming from near the door, not right behind my ears.

"There are _two_ Godchasers?" Sapphire gasped.

"How many constructs did you build?" Loren wondered uneasily.

"Constructs? Hundreds of thousands! But there's only ever been one Godchaser! I dismantled her first prototype and used the parts for Two, but Two had problems from the beginning. I'd intended to scrap Two also but I..." I fell silent. No one wanted to hear a complete account of my experiments. What they wanted was an explanation for what they were seeing, which was something that I couldn't provide.

Still, my vision had cleared enough that I could see what Sapphire had seen. There were most definitely _two_ Godchasers, staring in disbelief at one another.

"Identify yourself!" The first demanded. She was _my_ Godchaser... I could see where I'd repaired patched her white cloak covering with a scrap of linen.

"You first," The other argued. Her cloak was pristine and made of gossamer silk. "You're the dirty intruder!"

"I am not dirty! And you're not _me_ , you're horrible!"Godchaser wailed.

"Dirty!"

"Horrible!"

"Dirty, dirty, dirty!"

"Horrible!"

"Stop it, Godchaser!" I snapped. Both constructs whirled around to face me.

"Maker!" They answered in one voice.

"Maker?" The second Godchaser seemed confused.

"There are _no_ pests here!" I informed the Whirlagig Drone. "All drones will cease exterminating pests, is that understood?"

"Maker. Orders received. All orders from 9HE2TD 3.0 overridden. Extermination ceased," The Drone replied.

"Maker?" The second Godchaser blinked at me. She sounded absolutely incredulous.

"I _told_ you. _Not_ pests!" My Godchaser whispered smugly.

Amira sighed in relief and Roach whistled.

"That was a close one." Sapphire observed. "Quill?" She prompted.

"What?" He frowned, his hands on his hips. I still couldn't make out his face clearly, but I was beginning to see the garden around us. As Godchaser had professed, it was impossibly beautiful.

"What happened?" Sapphire prompted. "Why is this garden alive again?" She demanded.

"Why are all of Recluse's killer drones active?" Loren added.

"Yuck! Why am I standing in a pile of crap?" Roach complained.

I glanced in his direction. Sure enough, he'd put his foot down in something wet, black, and nasty, the droppings of some sort of animal that I _knew_ had no business in my garden.

When it finally hit me, I couldn't hope to conceal my shock. _"Sun-in-Glory!_ _Pests!_ "

"Recluse?" Faeslayer wondered.

"The _last_ entry in my... in _Perfect's_ diary!" I explained. "The very last entry, it never made sense to me! She was complaining about _pests_ in her garden!"

"I don't like where this is going at all," Amira sniffed the droppings that Roach had put his foot in and grimaced. "Imps." She informed me.

"Well, we've already got the fae, the Underworld, and Heaven gunning for us," Sapphire smiled slightly. "I suppose Malfeas was feeling left out."

"You'd better hope we don't run into any demons," Loren informed her. "We're still low on Essence and we don't know what has happened here. At least... I don't know."

"Nor do I," I admitted grudgingly.

"Well, all I know is that I'm not dead!" Roach supplied.

"Is that supposed to be an accomplishment?" Amira raised an eyebrow at him.

"Are you kidding?" Roach protested. "Quill thought the Well was going to kill me! See, I have plenty of soul!" He pointed at himself with both hands and winked as if he thought he was suave.

Loren stood with his arms crossed and Amira supported him, looking equally unamused. I turned to face Quill, who seemed to be daring me to ask him something particularly clever. But for the life of me, I couldn't formulate a coherent question. It was as if I was only half in the world that I occupied, and half somewhere else.

"I'm going back to the Well," I decided.

"We're with you," Amira nodded in agreement. She sounded uncertain, and I noticed immediately that she was hanging on Loren's arm. Did she know more than she was saying?

I didn't have the strength to start with the accusations. The Well was obviously the source of whatever had brought White Gold Tower to life, and so it was only natural that I should look at it first. More troubling still, where had all of the Lunars gone?

I suspected that Rhapsody and Val would be relatively safe, particularly since they were both sorcerers of a certain degree, and Silvermane knew his way around White Gold Tower. What worried me was that I didn't know Clever Devil and I did know Viper. Emerald Viper would have been trouble enough even stone cold sober. Put simply, Viper is not the sort of woman who takes "no" for an answer, and sometimes I think she starts fights simply because she enjoys throwing punches.

My first night at Anathema's, I'd come to understand with clarity why my previous incarnation had believed that most Lunars were barbarians. More importantly, if my Whirlagig Drones were all flying about, I was not to naïve to think that the minor traps I'd created to specifically inconvenience my Mate were probably also active.

Before I could open the doors we'd come through, Quill leapt in front of me.

"Why don't we go out to the terrace?" He suggested.

"Because we're still in the middle of the Wyld, and I really don't get much satisfaction from watching the Unshaped gnaw on nasty little fae," I informed him, moving again for the door.

"No, let's go to the terrace!" He repeated. It sounded more like an order, and since I was finally able to see again, I was not at all inclined to obey him.

"I have something I want to show you!" He offered, suddenly changing his tune.

That enticing offer got Sapphire's attention, and Roach's as well. They seemed willing to see what Quill wanted to share. I took advantage of his moment of distraction and went back into the main laboratory of White Gold Tower. Both Godchasers hovered after me, every so often glancing at one another suspiciously.

"Dirty," the first quipped.

"Horrible," the second replied.

The laboratory, like the garden, was fully restored to its former glory and the Well dominated the center of the space, pulsing with energy. A thousand experiments that I knew I hadn't started in motion were running, and above everything, a massive screen churned out seas of calculations and diagrams too quickly for any eye, except mine, to follow.

I used some of my meager Essence to call upon a Charm that would help me focus. It worked as I expected it to, but it was accompanied by a very peculiar sensation. For lack of a better way to explain it, I suddenly felt as if I had used the same Charm _twice_.

"Hello?" I wondered uneasily. Thinking better of myself, I switched to Old Realm. No one from Nexus proper was going to be running around in White Gold Tower, which left the possibilities of a Solar or Lunar, a Sidereal, Fae, Deathknight, possibly a god, or if the imp droppings were any indication, a demon from Malfeas.

"Maker..." Godchaser began.

I ignored her and grabbed the first thing I could lay my hands on which seemed to be a weapon, a gauntlet of a familiar design. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that my Circlemates had come into the room and that Roach and Amira were staring out over the restored laboratory as if they couldn't believe their eyes.

A moment's distraction proved to be too much. I almost lost my wits as I backed into someone or something between two rows of humming machines. Whirling around on one heel, I readied both my gauntlet and my lightning spear. A burst of Essence sent me scrambling through some sort of ill-conceived botanical experiment and I broke a lot of glass. Sensing that my attacker had moved with the speed of a martial artist, I raised my lightning spear to protect my head. Though I knew better than to close my eyes in a fight, my vision was still blurry and I needed to be as focused as I could possibly be.

There was the distinctive clang of orichalcum against itself and I grimaced, slowly opening one eye to see who or what was trying to kill me.

A pale woman with a shock of red hair, a very pointed nose and brilliant green eyes stood over me, dressed in nothing but magical metals and white silk. She wore the same diamond-shaped hearthstone amulet that I did around her neck and the same circlet on her brow.

"Maker!" The second Godchaser exclaimed. The two constructs both flew over to us, each picking a side. They persisted in staring at one another, and offered no helpful explanation at all.

Of course, I didn't have time to rationally explain to myself what had happened. Everyone had seen me attacked and Sapphire had apparently decided that if I wasn't going to run Perfect through with my lightning spear, she was going to shoot her. I suspected she didn't recognized my previous incarnation, not from such a distance and with her vision probably as fuzzy as my own.

Faeslayer immediately charged to my rescue also, but he didn't get close enough for his daiklave. Sapphire's Essence rounds exploded the experiment nearest to us and Perfect fired another two shots from her lightning spear, one at Sapphire and the other at me. Reflex forced me to retaliate, but I had no idea where I'd dropped my spear.

I activated the gauntlet I'd stolen from one of the experiments in the laboratory, not sure what it would do... and almost lost control of my arm thanks to the ferocious recoil. A burst of brilliant golden energy shot from the palm and Perfect dodged, evading the beam with a shocked expression on her face.

"Who are you?" She demanded. "How did you get into my manse?"

"My fellow pests?" Quill's sing-song voice carried across the room. I didn't see what he was about to do, but I did hear Sapphire curse incoherently. "I suggest you _run_!"

I knew immediately that he'd been shaping sorcery and barely had time to bolt for the stairs when a whirlwind of Obsidian Butterflies swept up around him and then flowed through the laboratory with hurricane force, rending everything they touched. I was astounded.

How was it possibly that Quill still had enough Essence to work Sorcery when I had three hearthstones and was only barely standing under the weight of my own artifacts?

Not for the first time, I suspected that there was more to him than any of us knew.

"Run, Faeslayer!" I ordered, seizing Loren by the sleeve.

"Isn't that Perfect? What is Quill doing?" Loren demanded. Obviously, he wanted to know why our Circlemate was trading blows with my previous incarnation. I had no answer for that.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Sapphire wondered.

"Are you mad?" I demanded, my hands on my hips. "As impossible as it seems, that's _me_ he's fighting in there! Perfect is going to eviscerate him, and I can't say that I'm sorry about that! Sun-in-Glory, will that imbecile _never_ learn! I swear, everyone who's met him wants to kill him if they can!"

"Guys?" Roach prompted. It was the first he'd said since Loren woke him up. "Exit?" He suggested.

"I'm all for getting out of here," Loren decided. "I still can't see."

"Same here," Amira agreed. Sapphire sighed in defeat.

We took off running, but predictably enough, we didn't get far. The moment I flung open the front doors of White Gold Tower, I realized what Quill had wanted to show us.

A vast city stretched out before us, absolutely teeming with life. Massive buildings of magical materials and rare marbles pierced the clouds. Airships, constructs, the Whispering Serpent, all things long since been buried or faded into legend glimmered like new. The sight of it all was so glorious that I almost lost my footing on the steps of White Gold Tower. The stairs led down, not into a mess of churning Wyld, but into another garden with a huge, crystalline blue reflecting pool. Impossibly beautiful people drifted across the surface of the water as they might have congregated on the dance floor at the society event of the season. I noticed that many of them wore artifacts that would have fetched a prince's ransom in our time.

 _Our_ _time._

What did that really mean?

If Loren and I had been in our Nexus, I would have said that the First Age was "our time", but staring across that city, I realized that I'd never felt more out of place. I'd often imagined what it must have been like when the Deliberative still ruled but never in my wildest dreams had I realized how truly wondrous Creation had actually been.

Roach grinned like a madman, and Amira clung tight to Loren's arm, looking even more worried than before.

I would have thought that I was only caught in a vision of the past if Faeslayer hadn't steadied me with his hand. Unlike the rest of us, who were too dumbfounded to speak, he looked perfectly serene and Alexander-like, as comfortable with the impossible world that we had fallen into as Sapphire was with the nasty underbelly of Harlotry.

"This _cannot_ be real!" I whispered feebily. "Time travel is impossible!"

"Who said anything about time travel?" Faeslayer sighed.

"I..." I pointed back in the direction of White Gold Tower. "That was _me_ , in there!"

"And me!" Godchaser added. "Well, one of my inferior prototypes anyway." I said nothing and let my companion preserve her pride, though I was absolutely certain that the Godchaser we'd run across had _not_ been one of her prototypes.

"I'm sure there's some other explanation," Amira admitted. "We knew that the Well opened into another Creation. You said it yourself. This world is a mirror of ours."

"But..." I protested. "The odds are... well, I'd sooner believe in time travel!"

Sapphire wrinkled her nose. "I'm going back in there. I'm going to beat an explanation out of Quill."

She only managed two steps back up the stairs when a tremendous explosion rocked White Gold Tower from the inside, blowing out more than half of the windows. It was my turn not to be surprised. Distantly, I understood the spell that had been cast and was absolutely certain that it was Perfect herself, and not Quill, who'd very nearly leveled White Gold Tower.

"Was that Perfect?" Roach wondered.

I didn't dignify that question with an answer. Sapphire was laughing like a hyena, and it took me a moment to see why.

One of the beautiful people waltzing on the surface of the reflecting pool was so startled that he'd abruptly broken the surface of the water and fallen in. The resulting splash scattered the other dancers, but it seemed that the sound of drums and horns on the road below would have ended the party regardless.

Loren's eyes were fixed on a white banner with a golden, radiant, sun on it... the heraldry of the Deliberative. I didn't doubt that he felt as strangely as I had when I'd first approached Perfect, but he seemed to have the sense to stay away from Alexander Faeslayer. Nevertheless, a military parade was approaching and a jostling crowd had filled every inch of space on its route.

"Hunh." Roach observed. "Looks like it's still the first day of Calibration."

"In that case, we'd all better hope that Recluse is right and that time travel really is impossible." Faeslayer paused.

"Why?" Roach wondered.

"Because if this is the First Age, the Usurpation starts today." He finished.

White Gold Tower rumbled. With Quill still trading blows with Perfect, everyone looked to me for answers... including Godchaser.

"So..." Loren began. "What do we do now?"

"Find a bar," Sapphire decided.

" _Bar,_ " Amira repeated emphatically.

"Oh yeah!" Roach agreed.

"You all want to drink?" Loren demanded. He turned to me, probably suspecting that I'd be the voice of reason and back him up.

"After what's happened so far this morning?" I smiled slightly. "I think Viper had the right idea getting hammered last night!"


	31. Chapter 30 - The First Age (Roach)

**Chapter** **30**

 **The** **First** **Age**

It had gotten crazy.

Now you've got to understand, when I say "crazy", what I actually mean is " _crazier_ _than_ _you_ _can_ _possibly_ _imagine"_. Personally, I've led an eventful life. I was raised in a cult, kidnapped into the army, promoted into the middling ranks of the Realm's most notorious Wyld Hunt and then booted right back into the company of heretics and outlaws when my best friend revealed himself to be Anathema. All that considered, the last few months of my day-to-day had made my lively previous years look like a lazy vacation by comparison.

Since I've been on the run, I've been shot, stabbed, trampled by a giant cow, damn near drowned, and set on fire more than once... not that anyone noticed. I'd also fought three of the four things that every self-respecting soldier hopes never to run afoul of; pissed-off Dragonbloods, hordes of fae, and the undead.

But have I gotten any recognition for my prodigious ability to stay alive?

Of course not.

Y'see, an average guy like me climbing out of a river singed and bleeding doesn't hold a candle to a tall, good-looking, authoritative guy with the giant frickin' orichalcum sword who burns like the sun. Not that I resent always being two steps behind the Boss. A guy like him casts a really big shadow, and basically everyone is in it somewhere, including his fellow Solars.

Incidentally, that's the fourth thing any self-respecting soldier hopes never to fight. _Anathema._

If you happen to be a mere mortal like me, being best buddies with a Dawn Caste is pretty dangerous business. I've already been kidnapped by Dragonbloods once and used as bait, and I don't doubt that eventually someone will try to use me to get the Boss again. Worried about my safety, he tried to convince me to head south with my Murqai cousins and maybe make a normal life for myself. I'd toyed with the idea of finding some nice quiet village to call home, but even my desire to remain "arrow-free" and " _not_ _impaled_ _on_ _a_ _pike"_ wasn't strong enough to make me quit following the Boss. He's just that kind of guy. All inspirational, all the time.

I had to ask myself honestly when I learned that the Boss was Exalted whether I was going to stick by him or not. It would have been easier and safer to turn him over to the Wyld Hunt, but the Boss was my only real friend in the world, and unlike most Realm soldiers who were spoon-fed Immaculate Philosophy from childhood, I knew that there was an alternative to it.

I knew that the Boss was too strong and too good to willingly give his body over to a demon, but if the heroic Illuminated of my mother's stories really existed, I could easily _believe_ that the Boss was one of them.

To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot about either of my parents. According to my Murqai relatives, my mother, Aaiqa Abida, was a pretty famous priestess with a real gift for finding the right words in just about any situation. Against all odds, she even managed to sound poetic when she kicked me out the back door right before the Wyld Hunt came to kill her. I've also been told that when I speak my native language, I sound like her. It's supposed to be a complement, but it doesn't really sit well with me. See, what I do remember about my mother is that she never figured I was going to amount to much.

" _Abadiyah."_ She would say, because that's my actual name. _"It_ _is_ _no_ _use!_ _You_ _will_ _never_ _be_ _a_ _priest!_ _The_ _Unconquered_ _Sun_ _did_ _not_ _make_ _you_ _clever."_

That always made me mad. Maybe I wasn't brilliant, but I never figured I was made stupid either. The truth was, in comparison to my mother, _anyone_ would have felt like a dunce.

To make matters worse, I also had the misfortune of being short and clumsy. My mother would observe my persistent failures and sigh. _"Oh,_ _Abadiyah!_ _It_ _is_ _no_ _use!_ _You_ _will_ _never_ _be_ _a_ _warrior!_ _The_ _Unconquered_ _Sun_ _did_ _not_ _make_ _you_ _strong."_

But there was one thing the Unconquered Sun did make me... and I learned what that was on the day I suddenly had no home to go back to.

 _He'd_ _made_ _me_ _stubborn._

When the Ravenous Winds found me half-dead in the desert, one of the officers started calling me "Cockroach" right away. I must have repeated my actual name a dozen times, but no one ever tried to pronounce it, except for the Boss. He never did manage to get it right, and eventually he started calling me "Roach" too.

Maybe I should have been offended, but somehow when he used the nickname that his superiors had given me, it didn't sound like such an insult. The Boss was genuinely impressed that I didn't give up easily, and with his infuriating, relentless patience... I started to get good at all the things I'd been bad at. Fighting, mostly. But he helped me with my reading too.

It felt natural to stick with the Boss, even if I was liable to get killed. He'd taught me everything that I knew, and sometimes I wondered how much I really was my own person, and how much I was just "The Cockroach" who followed Loren around.

Loren is the Boss's real name. When we were in the army together, I never really called him that, but the longer we spend on the lam, the more I get used to it. At present, the two of us are running around with the Boss's girlfriend, a creepy, half-mad Lunar called Amira Heartsblood... and three Solars that I like to think of as his "super friends".

The first Solar that Loren joined up with is actually the infamous Veritas Ilumio, formerly a jeweler who royally pissed off House Mnemon, somehow escaped his own high-profile execution, and then managed to get himself _inside_ the Abbey of Mela where he spent the next five years. He's Twilight Caste, which basically means that he's as much of genius as the Boss is a badass. Veritas is also incredibly paranoid. His chief delusion is that he's being stalked by agents of Heaven called "Sidereals" who can make themselves look like anyone. Until last night, I didn't believe that Sidereals were real. Now that I know that they _are_ actually watching us, I'm revising my opinion of Veritas somewhat.

The Boss seems to like Veritas. Loren calls him "Recluse" and he calls Loren "Faeslayer". The two of them get to bantering every so often like they go _way_ back... which I know they actually _don't_ because I was there when the two of them met. The trouble is, even though they've only known each other for a few months in this lifetime, they've been best buddies for about three-thousand years because a lot of Solars can remember their former lives in detail, sometimes to the point where they confuse the past and the present. Even Loren's girlfriend Amira occasionally slips up and calls him "Alexander" which was apparently the name of his former self, whom she was married to about 1,500 years ago. Their relationship is bizarre to say the least, but pretty much everything that has to do with Solars falls into the category of weird, weird shit.

The second of Loren's super-friends is Sapphire Indari, better known as "Shadowsbane", one of the most notorious figures of Nexus's extensive criminal underground. She's Night Caste, which means she's stealthy and flexible, both traits that I approve of. She's also not as serious as Loren or Veritas, which makes her fun to be around, but she has the most irritating laugh in all of Creation. More annoying still, she's a regular at Anathema's and monopolizes Emerald Viper's bed, which I'd really like to be spending more time in myself. The granddaughter of Burning Feather, the Goddess of Intoxicants, Sapphire can out-drink anyone, but that's not her only talent. Like Loren, she can also kill just about anything without ever putting down her beer. She is can also lie flawlessly with a great big shit-eating grin on her face. I'm mildly afraid of her.

Last of all is Adamant Quill, the Eclipse Caste of Loren's "Circle", which is kinda like the Solar version of a Sworn Brotherhood. He mainly uses his powers to manipulate and coerce people and is somewhat infamous for running the most staggeringly inefficient government office in all of Creation. In my head, I call him "Crazy Quill" because he's completely insane... and that's all any of us really know about him. Focusing on how ridiculous Crazy Quill can be makes him only marginally less terrifying.

To make a long story short, because I'd insisted on following the Boss, I was presently stuck in a place which was either our world 1,500 years in the past or a parallel Creation that mirrored our own so closely that it even included versions of ourselves. Not that I remembered what I'd done in any of my previous lives. I kinda expected that if I met Past Roach somewhere in First Age Nexus, he'd be frying noodles or stealing horses... not ruling the whole world like Past Loren was.

While Veritas, Loren, and Crazy Quill had been hard at work setting up the Well of Udr for its activation, Sapphire had taken it upon herself to fill in my somewhat deficient education on the First Age. The Boss had tried to get me up to speed before, but whenever his buddy Veritas got involved in the discussion, the two of them lapsed into Old Realm and laughed about crap they did together more than a thousand years ago.

All I'd really gleaned from any of my "Exalted" tutors about the past before I'd landed smack in the middle of it was that Solars had once ruled the whole world and that the Dragonbloods had risen up and killed them all in an event called the Usurpation, which was facilitated by certain Sidereals, who probably had connections in the Underworld or somewhere in the Deep Wyld. The scary thing was, really old Solars were even more powerful than Loren and his super-friends. I'd seen firsthand just how badly Veritas was outclassed when he'd run afoul of his previous incarnation, a crazy red-head woman with an unfortunate nose.

Not that actually I blamed her for attacking him. See, when we activated the Well in our Nexus, it conked all of us out. Some amount of time passed, during which Crazy Quill was probably awake and up to no good. And then we woke up in First Age Nexus inside of Perfect Mechanical Soul's laboratory, temporarily blinded and with monster headaches.

Veritas had found his previous self and unwittingly started a fight which Crazy Quill felt compelled to finish. Citing self-preservation as a valid excuse, the rest of us decided to run in the opposite direction of the out-of-control sorcery that was being lobbed back and forth.

Safely outside of White Gold Tower, the super friends argued for a few minutes about whether or not to do something about Crazy Quill. Sapphire and Amira decided that it was time for a drink, a motion which I wholeheartedly seconded.

Grudgingly, Loren agreed. We needed a plan, and we'd probably formulate a better one if we could sit down and get something to eat first.

I followed close behind the Boss. There was no really telling what we'd run into in First Age Nexus, and as I believe I've already mentioned, Loren's epic shadow is a pretty safe place to be.

With a big military parade in full swing on the streets below us, it wasn't easy to get away from White Gold Tower. Loren eventually decided it was safe enough to stash his daiklave in Elsewhere and Veritas followed suit with his weapons.

I couldn't figure why the super-friends didn't want to be recognized as Solars now that we were in the First Age where they would be treated like big damn heroes instead of the enemies of Creation that the Realm made them out to be. I guessed that the business with Crazy Quill fighting that red-headed sorceress had something to do with it. She was apparently 'Perfect', who was also somehow Veritas, kinda like Loren was 'Alexander Faeslayer'. Not that I really understood. Like so much else, it was just one of those Solar things.

I couldn't help but feel as though everyone was watching the five of us as we got off the parade route and stumbled through the underbelly of the city, looking like the easiest marks on the street. Even Sapphire, who's normally confident enough to take her clothes off in public or launch a flurry of insults in the face of an Immaculate Monk was quiet and very careful. She obviously observed what I did, that we stood out even in the seediest parts of town. Our clothes were battered even by the standards of our own time, and in the First Age everyone looked much nicer than we did.

What was even more irritating to me was that everyone, even the street sweepers, were speaking in Old Realm, a language that I couldn't understand. It made me acutely aware of the fact that I was the only member of our traveling party who didn't have phenomenal celestial powers.

About halfway through Firewander District, we came to a place where three roads crossed over one another. Under the lowest bridge, which was made of solid white jade, was a squat, squarish brick building with a weird, squiggly looking sign over the front window. I stared up at the Old Realm characters, trying to guess what they said.

I barely even noticed when Veritas slipped up behind me and pinned something to the collar of my shirt. It looked like a tiny orichalcum spider.

"What is this?" I wondered, staring at the spider.

"One of my spiders." He explained. "I brought some with me when we passed through the Well."

To demonstrate, he held out his right hand. Another tiny gold spider that I had assumed was only a decoration on his sleeve immediately detached itself from the fabric and reared back on six of its eight legs, seeming to salute its maker.

I'd gotten relatively used to Godchaser swooping around and some of Veritas's other inventions, but the inconceivably delicate work that must have gone into building the tiny spider that he was so casually handing out reminded me once again that Veritas was _really_ not a normal guy.

Of all the Boss's super friends, Veritas was the one who had the most serious god complex. He seemed to get kicks out of making machines that were virtually indistinguishable from living things... which was in my opinion, one seriously creepy hobby. Still, I knew better than to doubt the effectiveness of Veritas's constructs, and if he was actually entrusting one of his precious "children" into my care, I figured I ought to be grateful for it.

"Wow, thanks. Um... what does it do?" I asked, still staring at the spider.

"All of my spiders share the same neural frequency," Veritas explained, using a conglomeration of words that didn't mean anything to me. "And Godchaser has a setting which allows her to monitor their activities. She can send them any information she has at her disposal... which is quite a lot, presently. Her maps are extensive and cover every corner of this city. She speaks fourteen languages fluently and four different dialects of Old Realm. She can also identify any entity using Essence within a hundred yards, including Gods who've chosen not to materialize and Sidereals who are hiding under Resplendent Destinies. I've assigned everyone a spider in case we get separated. They can't communicate with you, but they can communicate with Godchaser and she'll tell me what they see." Veritas explained.

"Oh," I observed, noticing that another spider had fixed itself to Loren's collar. One was also clinging to Amira's largest silver bracelet and a third had hidden itself discreetly in Sapphire's hair. I tried not to sound disappointed when I learned that I hadn't actually been given a unique gift.

"Of course, I specifically modified the spider that I gave you," Veritas added.

"You did? How?" I was genuinely intrigued.

"Well, since you don't have any Essence of your own, I've made it so that any of us can charge it up for you," Veritas explained. "Right now it should last a day or so on what I've just given it."

"Right. Okay," I didn't even pretend to be pleased. Veritas may not have thought he was being rude, but I really hated it when he treated me like I was dragging everyone else down. As I saw it, it didn't matter if I could recharge his damned spider or not. I was still a trained scout, and my eyes and ears were good. Loren and his super friends were always trying to do more than one thing at a time and they very rarely paid attention to what was going on around them. More than once, I'd actually been the first of our group to notice potential trouble brewing or a solution to a problem that no one else had considered.

"But that's not all," Veritas added. "Allow me to demonstrate! Ahem!" He cleared his throat and said something very quickly in Old Realm. I gingerly touched the spider on my collar, and when Veritas repeated himself, a little more slowly, I realized that I could understand him perfectly.

The spider didn't actually _translate_ the words for me into any language that I knew... it somehow supplied me with the fundamental understanding of the language. Words for things I'd never seen and concepts that I didn't really understand raced through my brain.

 _Deliberative._ _Magitech._ _Terraform._ _Submersible._

I must have been staring for a long while, because the next thing I noticed was that everyone else had stopped loitering around. They were all looking at me.

"So, does it work?" Veritas pressed.

I blinked in surprise. "You're speaking in Old Realm?"

"As are you," He looked a bit impressed with his own work.

I hadn't even realized that I'd responded in a language I shouldn't have known. "Thanks." I didn't have to pretend to smile. "This is actually pretty awesome. You know, I was under the impression that you didn't like me much."

"To be honest, I originally thought you were a Sidereal," Veritas admitted.

"And now you know I'm not?" I prompted.

"Yes. It was wrong of me to make such an assumption. I should have trusted Godchaser. She very rarely makes mistakes," He replied.

"Oh." There wasn't much else I could say. I'd kinda been hoping that Veritas had just started to trust me because I tried to be a decent guy, but apparently he'd had his construct evaluating me like one of my Murqai cousins might evaluate a horse on the auction block. Still, an apology from Veritas was something I was going to hold onto. It was a rare thing for any mere mortal to receive, kinda like a complement from Amira.

I looked up at sign of the building we'd come to, the one I hadn't been able to read before. The characters rearranged themselves in front of my eyes and I realized that we were standing on the steps of a restaurant and boarding house called t _he_ _Caterpillar._

It looked like a real dive, which was exactly the kind of place we'd been hoping to find. It was late afternoon and half of the restaurants on the street were filled to capacity, but for some reason, no one had set foot inside of t _he_ _Caterpillar_.

All of the tables were empty except for a round one in the back corner near the bar, which was occupied by a familiar-looking guy with pale skin and stringy black hair. He was dressed in ink-spattered, unwashed old clothes that reminded me Sijanese funerary robes.

Amira literally squeaked and seized Loren's arm. "Luna's tits, it's Dead Eddie!" She exclaimed, naming the famous undead playwright who haunted Nexus's theater district and frequented Anathema's. Amira bounced up and down like a child. "Well, I suppose we should probably call him "Not-Yet-Dead Eddie." She admitted. "But it's him! It's definitely him!"

"What is he doing?" Loren wondered.

Not-Yet-Dead Eddie was furiously scribbling something on a mass of cheap paper. Every so often he'd pause, consider what he'd written, crinkle up one sheet and start on another.

"Writing something he should be publicly flogged for," Sapphire replied. "It's what Val always says." She added.

"I'm going to distract him!" Amira decided. "And when I do, you grab his manuscript!" She ordered me. I nodded obediently but I honestly had no intention of doing what she wanted me to.

"Amira, I'm not sure that's a good idea!" The Boss protested.

She ignored him and gleefully bounded over to Not-Yet-Dead Eddie's table.

"What are you writing?" She asked, in the most unbelievably annoying sing-song voice.

"Nothing," He replied. "Leave me alone!"

"What?" A voice shouted upstairs. "No, I would have known already! I wouldn't be living like this! They would have identified me, you understand? The Viziers can predict it! I've seen what they do. They... they scoop up children when they're young. They say we all get the same education in school, but we don't! It's a conspiracy, a conspiracy designed to _keep_ _us_ _down_!"

Sapphire raised an eyebrow, glancing in my direction. I turned to the Boss, who only shrugged.

"Damnit, what do you want?" Not-Yet-Dead Eddie demanded. Amira was still hanging over his shoulder. She folded her hands behind her back and mustered her very best innocent look which was not at all convincing.

"We're hungry and thirsty!" Amira informed him. "You should serve us!"

"Nothing here is remotely edible," Not-Yet-Dead Eddie replied. "And the beer will give you consumption."

"Ick! I'll pass!" Sapphire grimaced.

"You're serious?" The voice upstairs sounded considerably subdued. "But... the printer already has it now and if I'd known..."

Not-Yet-Dead Eddie rolled his eyes. "Now if you will kindly piss off, I have work to do!"

"The food here is no worse than it is across the street," Veritas interrupted. Judging by his tone, I suspected that he'd used a Charm. "And I suggest that you serve us if you don't want us to tell your employer that you've been purposely chasing his customers away."

"You are the waiter, aren't you?" Amira observed with a wicked grin.

Sighing in defeat, Not-Yet-Dead Eddie, got up, went into the kitchen, and was gone for about ten minutes. He came back with something color of cat vomit that smelled like boiled shoes. Loren stared at the muck that had been set before him and Veritas actually gagged. Hungry as I was, I decided to try it. It proved to be edible, but less appetizing than anything I'd ever eaten before.

"No! No! That's final! I'm not hearing another word!" That was when the really loud argument we'd been overhearing snippets of began to work its way downstairs.

The one who's been doing all of the shouting was a young man with nose that looked like it had been broken one too many times. His hair was cropped short and there were dark circles under his eyes that made it look like he hadn't gotten any sleep in days. He was dressed in an old hapi coat that I would have been tempted to call "Realm fashion" if we weren't currently 1,500 years in the past, patched breeches, and simple rope sandals. I guessed right away that he was the owner of the Caterpillar, because he was carrying an inventory list and a crate of glass mugs that didn't look clean.

The person he was arguing with turned out to be Adamant Quill.

Both of them looked surprised to see all of us sitting at the bar with mugs of sour beer and bowls of whatever Not-Yet-Dead Eddie had scraped off the kitchen floor in front of us.

"All I'm saying is that if you cleaned this place up, you'd be sure to turn a profit!" Crazy Quill argued. "Come now, you can't be content like this!" From the way the innkeeper reacted, I gathered that Crazy Quill had just changed the subject of their conversation completely.

"It's my damned business. I don't care how you claim we're related. I said I was interested in your coin, not your opinion!" The innkeeper informed Crazy Quill.

"Quill!" Sapphire exclaimed.

To my surprise, the innkeeper was the one who turned around first. "Do I know you?" He demanded.

"You're Quill?" I stared at him, and then at Crazy Quill. When I pictured what Crazy Quill might look like with a bad haircut and a busted nose, I realized that the man he was arguing with could only be the relative he bragged about, the very first Adamant Quill who'd set up shop in Nexus when the Solars still ruled.

"Yes, Adamant Quill, not that the name suits," The innkeeper admitted. "My parents hoped I would be a scholar, but mostly I just write public interest columns for _The_ _Firewander_ _Daily_. I also own this bar."

Godchaser cackled, and Veritas started laughing awkwardly himself in an attempt to conceal his construct's breech of etiquette. Godchaser knew that we were trying to hide and she was supposed to keep her mouth shut.

"So this is your esteemed relative, Quill the First?" Loren smirked.

"Relative?" Quill the First frowned. Apparently, he'd heard no such thing.

"Who did you tell him you were?" Sapphire demanded, her hands on her hips.

"A distant relative," Crazy Quill lied.

"Very distant," Quill the First added. He was lying too. Apparently being a deceitful scumbag ran in the family. I wasn't surprised.

"Why don't you go get us a decent bottle of wine, my most beloved very distant relative?" Crazy Quill suggested, putting his arm around Quill the First in a manner that made the latter look very uncomfortable. When Crazy Quill released him, Quill the First grabbed "Not-Yet-Dead" Eddie and shoved him into the kitchen.

It looked to me like the would-be playwright was going to be looking for a new job.

Crazy Quill sighed heavily, observing the black looks that everyone seemed to be casting in his general direction. Veritas stood with his arms crossed and The Bosscouldn't have looked any more deathly serious if he'd been standing at attention with his daiklave.

"Yes, my illustrious ancestor is not very illustrious, I fear," Crazy Quill rolled his eyes. "Maybe my past self will be more interesting?" He suggested, looking at Veritas. "Yours was certainly 'fiery'."

He coughed slightly, and when I stepped up to stand next to Loren, I caught a good whiff of what smelled like sulphur.

"Why did you go toe-to-toe with her like that?" Veritas demanded.

"To buy you all time, to escape, imbecile! If we're going to defuse whatever is happening here, we need the element of surprise on our side! No one can know who we are!" Crazy Quill informed him.

We'd all agreed that it was best to lie low, but none of us liked admitting that Quill was right.

"I was actually just thinking the opposite," Loren began. I couldn't tell if he was being serious or just trying to knock Crazy Quill off of his usual pedestal. "I think we should speak to Alexander. He may know something that could help us."

"I agree," Veritas nodded.

"I don't know. As much as I still want to punch him, I'm with Quill on this one." Sapphire admitted. "Our past incarnations could maybe make this easier, but they could also make this a whole lot more difficult."

"Heartsblood?" Veritas prompted. Sometimes he called Amira by the name she was most famous for, the one she used as second-in-command of the Sun-King Seneshals. "Amira" was rarely serious, but "Heartsblood" was a Lunar to be reckoned with. Whenever she heard her "War Name" spoken, Amira had a tendency to stop joking around and start paying attention.

"Well, I..." Amira began.

"Let me guess? You agree with Faeslayer?" Quill sighed.

Amira always agreed with Loren, which was part of the reason that the Boss's Circlemates didn't want her voting on "Three Circles Society" business. Still, Amira had lived through the last years of the Deliberative and the Usurpation, so it wasn't very fair or intelligent to disregard her opinion on what the rest of us should do next.

"Actually, no," She admitted.

Loren looked surprised.

"This was a bad time for all of us," Amira paused. "Considering what's happened already, I think we should steer clear of Perfect and Alexander. And any other Solars," She sighed heavily and turned to Loren with her hands on her hips. "I thought we were already agreed on that?"

"We did, before it became Quill's idea," Veritas admitted grudgingly.

The conversation ceased as Quill the First and Not-Yet-Dead Eddie emerged from the kitchen. I noticed that neither of them were bringing Crazy Quill the bottle of wine he'd requested. They both looked very uncomfortable.

I tested another spoonful of the mush we'd been served and grimaced. "Do you have anything else to eat around here?" I wondered hopefully.

"Other than protein rations?" Quill the First scoffed. "Where do you think you are, Meru?"

"I'd be fine with rice," I admitted. "Actually, rice would be awesome. Just a bowl of rice with an egg cracked on top?" I suggested.

"Ooh!" Sapphire exclaimed. "That's _exactly_ what I want!"

Quill the First gave us that same look again.

"You don't even have any rice? But there's rice all around this city!" I protested. "We've seen it!"

"It's not that there isn't food in Nexus. It's that none of it _stays_ here! We're the breadbasket of the Deliberative and everyone below Jade Row is living on surplus military supplies from twenty-four years ago! Word has it that there's going to be a revolution soon," Quill the First whispered.

"A revolution?" Veritas gaped at Quill the First. "You can't be serious!"

"I'm quite serious. You must not be from around here," Quill the First observed.

"You can't fight the Deliberative! You'll be destroyed! Completely!" Veritas replied.

Of course, all of us knew damn well that the "revolution" Quill was talking about _had_ actually succeeded, but since we were trying to play the part of ordinary folks from the past, it made sense for us to react as if it was crazy talk.

That wasn't hard for me. Being a mere mortal myself, I had serious respect for how scary all of my super friends could be. I even worried about the Boss sometimes. I gave Quill the First a really good look, like I thought he was a head case... which I kinda did.

"Not _completely._ Oh, there _will_ be casualties, but the Dragonbloods outnumber the Solars by tens of thousands and they're at the head of this. And others are saying that certain Viziers are as fed up with the Order of Heaven as the rest of us are! Creation shouldn't be ruled by God-kings. It should be ruled by the people who actually have to live in it!" Quill the First slammed his open hand down really hard on his bar.

"He's got a point," I told Loren, who raised his eyebrow at me. Though Amira always made fun of him for not being a very good actor, I thought he was doing a better job than Sapphire or Veritas. They both stared at Quill the First, not like he was a loony, but like they were insulted. Both of them took the whole "Rightful Lords of Creation" thing pretty seriously.

Crazy Quill scowled at his ancestor. I smiled slightly. Though I didn't doubt that Crazy Quill would clock me upside the head if I said anything to him, I was beginning to see a very strong resemblance between the two of them.

"And you think that once the Deliberative is overthrown, the Dragonbloods are going to be better rulers?" Loren asked.

Quill the First snorted. "No, they'll also have to be overthrown! They're a necessary means to an end, you understand? The Dragonbloods can fight the Solars, but they're oppressors too, and for the revolution to continue, the people will have to rise up and take the power from them!"

"By people, you mean us? Mortals?" I prompted.

"Well, obviously! Exalts treat us like slaves, but we outnumber them by the millions! Why should one percent of the population control ninety-nine percent of the wealth and _all_ _of_ _the_ _power_?" Quill the First gave me a look that made me think of how my mother used to tell me " _The_ _Unconquered_ _Sun_ _did_ _not_ _make_ _you_ _clever."_

"But if there are no Exalts, who will protect Creation?" Loren asked.

"He's got a point," I agreed.

"No, that's what _they_ _want_ _you_ _to_ _think_ , don't you understand? It's all a conspiracy!" Quill the First looked right at Crazy Quill. "These enemies that we supposively need protection from, the Solars are the _reason_ they exist! Creation wouldn't be in danger all the time if our golden overlords weren't as corrupt and insane as they are! After all they've done, I only wish there was some way to kill them permanently! They deserve it!"

"If you say so." I shrugged.

Quill the First looked annoyed. Though he had no reason to suspect that he was currently talking to four Solars and a Lunar, I think he figured out that none of us really agreed with him.

We all sat in silence for a long while, poking at our inedible "food". Quill the First excused himself and went to check with his printer, Not-Yet-Dead Eddie shambled upstairs to work on his play and the rest of us turned out our pockets to see what we had that could pass for currency... despite the fact that we hadn't actually eaten, much less enjoyed our meal. The last thing we needed to do was get ourselves arrested for something as petty as a dine and dash.

What we came up with collectively was about eleven coins, not one that looked even vaguely First Age and not enough to pay for any sort of meal for five people, even at the sleaziest establishment in the city of Nexus, which the Caterpillar obviously was.

"If we're going to be stuck here for the next couple days, we should probably get some money." The Boss decided. "I know I saw a terminal outside."

The word _terminal_ was one of the ones that I'd gotten from Veritas's spider. Images of boxes that showed pictures or information stuck in my brain and I knew I'd seen Veritas working with a similar device, but what such a box had to do with money was totally lost on me.

Without explaining what he was doing, Loren approached some kind of machine in front of a shop and put his hand on it. His "target" flashed briefly and the machine deposited a number of glittering gold coins in his hand.

See, when Solars or Lunars spend Essence, they have marks between their eyes that start to glow. The marks show the symbol of their Caste. Emerald Viper had explained to me once that her Caste Mark was where Luna had kissed her "the first time" and then asked me if I wanted to see where else she'd been kissed by her patron Goddess. That had turned out to be a good night for me.

The Boss had made every effort to hide his Caste Mark for years, acutely aware that anyone who saw it would call him "Anathema" on the spot. He still looks nervous sometimes when he knows it's burning. His Circlemates react very differently. Quill grins like he's just played the best trick ever, while Sapphire and Veritas get this sort of serene expression when they know that their marks are visible. It's kinda like that scene in _The_ _Forty-Seven_ _Ronin_ when Sing Nai takes off his mask, reveals his identity, and tells Whispering Blossom that he's been sent to rescue her. Both Sapphire and Veritas seem to believe they're big damn heroes and to be honest, if Sing Nai wasn't a fictional character, either one of them would beat him easily in a fight. The Boss would make him look like a gutless coward.

Basically, all Solars look like they've got targets painted on their heads. Of course, anyone dumb enough to try to pop a Solar right on the Caste Mark had better be a damn good shot or a really fast runner. I poked the Boss there once, and he told me in no uncertain terms _never_ to do it again.

"Hard motes," the Boss explained, handing me a few coins. They felt warm to the touch and much lighter than they should have, given their size. "Essence is money," he explained.

"Hm. I suppose that means we're extremely wealthy." Veritas observed the machine. He put his hand on the console and smiled slightly as a dozen more coins fell from the machine. "Let's go eat somewhere tolerable?" He suggested, holding up a single glittering mote. "I'll buy!"

That was when Sapphire realized that withdrawing Essence from the machine was getting us attention... the wrong kind. A gaggle of angry-looking locals were gathered across the street, muttering something I couldn't make out and pointing in our direction. Among them was a man I knew I'd seen before. He was dressed in the black robes of a bureaucrat and had a pair of tiny round sunglasses perched on his nose.

Sapphire cursed, seizing hold of Loren's arm. She furiously pointed in the direction of the man and I gathered from the expression on the Boss's face that he'd caught sight of him before he'd vanished.

"Was that Himitsu?" I hissed. I'd heard the name thrown around lately and it seemed like a good guess.

"There's definitely a Sidereal here _!_ " Godchaser quipped. "A Chosen of Endings!"

"It must be him!" Amira replied. She'd looked nervous since we first passed through the Well, clinging to Loren more ferociously than usual, but hearing that there was a Sidereal somewhere close by had caused her to step in front of him and extend her "stupid stick" bracelet into its staff form.

Even when faced with one clearly magical weapon, the people that Himitsu had been whispering to were undeterred. They circled around us, but rather than calling his daiklave out of Elsewhere, the Boss only rolled up his sleeves. There were twelve of them and only six of us, but they didn't know they were picking a fight with a bunch of Solars, so we had the upper hand.

At least I thought so, until I noticed that the streets were clearing out very rapidly, and that a whole lot of Dragonbloods in heavy armor were marching in our direction. I went for my sword, but didn't actually draw it. Whoever was coming to break up the fight had arrived before any blows could actually be exchanged.

"Is there a problem?" A voice demanded. Sapphire, who was usually pretty good about thinking on her feet, was standing in the middle of the street with a blank look on her face. A man had come up behind her. He was a tall westerner with a distinctive nose and perfect teeth who could have passed for one of Viper's relatives, except that his eyes were the same blue color as Sapphire's. The Night Caste mark on his brow was flickering slightly, making it very obvious that he was a Solar. His large retinue of armored Dragonbloods surrounded us.

"These men are thieves! I don't know how they did it, but they were stealing Solar Motes from that machine!" Someone in the crowd protested. The Boss looked insulted by the accusation and Veritas frowned. Though they'd both agreed that it was best to lie low, they were acting an awful lot like Solars right then.

"We were _not_ stealing! We were simply withdrawing funds!" Veritas replied stiffly. The man who'd drawn attention to us scowled at him.

"All right, show me what you've got!" The Night Caste ordered.

Grudgingly, both Loren and Veritas revealed the coins they'd withdrawn from the terminal. I didn't volunteer the hard motes that were currently in my own pocket, and the Night Caste didn't ask to see them.

The Solar turned to the man who'd accused Loren and Veritas of theft and smiled slightly. "Why thank you, citizen. It looks like we do have a couple of thieves in our midst! I think you had better come uptown with me." The Night Caste decided, motioning for his Dragonbloods to come forward. Two of them went for each of us. As much as I wanted to take a swing at someone, I decided that it would probably be smarter if I just bought Loren and Veritas a little time by making myself difficult to tie up. I twisted my right arm into an awkward position that one of my Murqai cousins had shown me, slipped my ropes and smiled slightly as I saw Sapphire use the exact same trick.

One of the Dragonbloods successfully closed a pair of iron manacles around Crazy Quill's wrists. He slipped free of them as easily as Sapphire and I had escaped our ropes and then put them on the Dragonblood who'd originally cuffed him, whirling the man around several times and then tripping him face-first through the front door of the Caterpillar. I was not at all surprised to see that he was also an expert when it came to fighting dirty.

Quill the First had been about to dump some wash water out the front door and he swore as the cuffed Dragonblood almost laid him out flat on his back. The expression on the Night Caste's face immediately soured as he realized he was being played for a fool, and for a minute I suspected that we might have another "Exploding Tower" situation on our hands. Fortunately, Sapphire decided that she'd had enough of Crazy Quill's antics. She stepped in front of the Solar.

"Lord Shadowsbane, this is _not_ what it looks like!" She protested, making a valiant effort to defuse the situation. Very deliberatively, she put her own hand on the Essence-to-money machine and tore off her shroud cloth. Her Caste Mark was flickering like the Night Caste's was, only faintly. Two motes fell into the tray, as gold as orichalcum. "Now do you see?" She demanded.

The Night Caste stared at Sapphire in disbelief, as if he sensed that there was some connection between the two of them. Belatedly, I noticed that he was wearing a familiar pair of firewands holstered on his hips and carrying a long knife identical to the one Sapphire always tucked into her belt. It didn't take a genius to realize that our "Shadowsbane" had apparently met her predecessor. I supposed that it was easier for a Solar to recognize one of their past incarnations than it was to anticipate a future one.

An incredulous murmur raced through the gathering crowd. "You're Solars? Are you insane? Why are you even down here?" Shadowsbane demanded.

"Um, taking in the local color?" I suggested.

Shadowsbane laughed. He sounded _almost_ as annoying as Sapphire always did, but his voice was deeper so it wasn't quite as outrageously grating. "Looking for trouble is more like it!" He informed us. "You must be _very_ new. How did you wind up so far away from the Whispering Serpent?"

When none of us responded, he sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. "All right, I won't ask! But I will show you the five of you somewhere you can stay!"

"Five?" Veritas wondered. He looked for Crazy Quill.

I looked for him myself. I was sure he'd been standing only a few feet away from me moments ago, but he was gone.

"Five it is," Veritas smiled. "Thank you, sir."

"It's my pleasure," Shadowsbane replied. "Although... what were you doing at the Caterpillar? That place is a..."

"Sewer?" I suggested.

"No, this is Nexus, good sir!" Shadowsbane laughed. "Our sewers are _much_ cleaner!"

"You don't have any problems with flying hagfish?" Sapphire asked.

"Flying hagfish?" Shadowsbane echoed incredulously. "If you want to see one of those, you'll have to take a weekend cruise out into the Deep Wyld! Are you interested? Because I know a good company and I can set you up."

"I'm not interested," Sapphire smiled sweetly. "I'm _really_ not interested."

"All right. But do let me know if you change your mind!" He replied.

I skipped right along after Loren and Amira. If Shadowsbane thought I belonged with the Boss and his friends, I wasn't going to correct him. I may have stuck my nose up just a little, pretending to be a Solar myself.

Shadowsbane led us out onto a golden walkway that seemed to be suspended in midair and as we crossed it, we got the best view of First Age Nexus that any of us could have wished for. The sun was just beginning to set and I stared out in disbelief at the huge dam in the middle of the river. The water that was gray in our time a clear, summery blue... and the fields that barely grew anything were as green as I'd ever imagined a rice paddy could be.

Why would anyone want to destroy such a world? It was paradise! I'd hardly seen anything and already I felt offended, somehow. It seemed absurd that anyone would ever think that they could do better than perfection!

The "place to stay" that Shadowsbane led us to turned out to be a massive, blue glass building more than twenty stories high. Like the "terminals" that I'd begun noticing everywhere, the entire face of the structure was filled with shifting images. Some were advertisements for things that could be bought, presumably only by very wealthy Solars. Floating islands, lavish private yachts, exotic entertainment... that kind of stuff. Every so often, the pictures melted into glyphs that read " _The_ _Monolith_ _Hotel_ _and_ _Casino_ ".

The first thing that happened after we arrived at _The_ _Monolith_ was that everyone got a bath and new clothes, custom-tailored as we waited. The constructs who did all the sewing finished the Boss first, and when he stepped out to see how the rest of us were faring, it was impossible not to stare at him. He must have insisted that the constructs kept his attire simple with a minimal amount of flash and embroidery, but dressed in a very sharp cream-colored shirt with slight gold accents, he looked _exactly_ like my childhood image of an Illuminated hero.

The constructs dressed me like they did Loren, except that I insisted on a dark brown jacket. If we did have to hide or run for our lives, I wanted to be wearing something that wouldn't stand out in a crowd. For a long time after the constructs had finished cutting my hair and shaving my face, I just stood and stared at my own reflection. Normally, I wouldn't have liked the idea of having half of my skin scrubbed off by machines, but there was something weirdly cathartic about the whole process. I didn't even recognize myself when they finished. As I stepped out of the dressing room and sat down next to Loren, Sapphire gave me a look that she'd never given me before.

 _She_ _thought_ _I_ _looked_ _good!_

I adjusted the orichalcum spider which was now pinned to the collar of my new coat and smiled slightly. For at least a month, I'd had this reoccurring dream about fighting a firewand duel with Sapphire over Emerald Viper. But if Sapphire and I started getting along, maybe I wouldn't have to trade shots with her after all? That was a good thing, I suspected. If Sapphire and I ever really came to blows, I knew I wouldn't last five minutes. Among many other things, Sapphire is a practitioner of Righteous Devil Style, which is basically dueling while invoking the will of Heaven.

Veritas was up next. Godchaser made all kinds of weird, excited little squeaking noises when the other constructs provided her with a new covering. She and Veritas seemed to have the same favorite color, which was white. Since his original plan to lie low had been utterly squashed, Veritas had retrieved all of his artifacts stashed in Elsewhere with the exception of his lightning spear. Wearing the gauntlet he'd stolen from Perfect earlier along with a glove cleverly made to match it, his hearthstone circlet, a glowing heathstone amulet around his neck and Godchaser, I might have mistaken him for the Emissary of Nexus. He looked really, really impressive.

Sapphire's attire was mostly the same as Loren's, except that she'd requested a basic black palette. It made her artifact weapons stand out even more dramatically. Like Veritas, she'd obviously decided that the best place for her hearthstone circlet was on her head.

Amira came out of the tailor's wearing even less than she'd had on when she walked in. The Boss stared at her like a kid who'd never seen a naked woman before, not that I blamed him. The dark blue evening gown that she'd selected for herself would have made an ordinary whore blush. For a moment I wondered if she'd considered that we might be running for our lives and fighting in the near future, but then I scoffed at myself. If things did get crazy like I thought they might, Amira wouldn't be needing any clothing at all.

After we were all dressed in what Shadowsbane deemed appropriate Solar fashion, he took us up several flights of moving stairs so that we could get something to eat.

The Blue Lagoon Nightclub was located on the very roof of the Monolith Hotel. It was constructed entirely of living coral and blocks of what looked like flowing water frozen in time. Whatever was cooking inside smelled a lot better than Quill the First's kitchen slop and my stomach grumbled loud enough that it caught Amira's attention. She gave me a look that I didn't really understand, like maybe she felt sorry for me.

The doors opened automatically as Shadowsbane approached them. A very attractive Southern woman with a faint haze of green scales running down her neck and back lounged just inside. She had a mane of black curls and was dressed in a watery-looking silk which made the most of her generous assets. A little device that she ran her fingers over seemed to be a guest list of some kind, but I wasn't worried that she'd tell us all to get lost. She smiled at Shadowsbane, and he dramatically kissed her.

"Friends, allow me to introduce Verdant Coral, the proprietress of this fine establishment!" He announced. "I picked up these newcomers wandering around the Firewander District."

"Oh, Luna's great big tits! Were you trying to get killed?" Verdant Coral demanded, her hands on her hips. When her gaze came to rest on me, she wrinkled her nose and flicked her snake tongue. I was reminded immediately of Viper. It wasn't just Coral's tone of voice and how she stood. The two of them had the exact same Tell. It was very strange to see a Lunar with no visible tattoos at all, but then I remembered Viper explaining that moonsilver tattoos had becoming increasingly necessary for Lunars because as Creation became progressively more and more unstable... so did they.

"We've heard some rumors." Loren said. "We wanted to see if they were true."

I had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe he'd overheard something earlier, before Veritas had given me my translator spider.

"They're not exaggerated in the slightest. Certain parts of this city have become very dangerous recently. You'd do well to stay only on the Gold or Silver Roads." Coral advised. "No riffraff up here."

She assured him, definitely glancing in my direction as she spoke.

That confused me. Since we'd arrived in First Age Nexus, I'd kept my hands to myself and my head down. Loren and Veritas were responsible for the mess in the Firewander District and Crazy Quill was the one who'd tried to blow up White Gold Tower. I wasn't "riffraff!"

"We'll keep that in mind," Veritas agreed.

Amira took Loren's hand and the two waltzed into the Blue Lagoon as if they were regular guests, which I suspected they had been back in the First Age. Through the open door, I saw that the entire ceiling was a magically suspended ocean, illuminated by free-floating bubbles of light and filled with brilliantly colored fish. Though there were a lot of things to marvel at in the world we'd come to, some of them were awe-inspiring by any standards. Veritas stared up for so long that Sapphire literally knocked him over trying to push her way inside. I moved to follow her, but a huge fish construct melted out of the wall and stopped me.

"No entry," It croaked.

"Seriously?" I demanded.

"We don't permit servants inside," Coral informed me. "You'll have to wait out back."

"I'm not waiting out back!" I protested.

Loren hadn't gone far past the coat check. He glanced over his shoulder. "Roach isn't my servant," he informed Coral, but she didn't seem convinced.

"Fine, no pets!" She replied.

"I'm not a pet either!" I protested.

"Cheeky, isn't he?" Coral observed, an expression on her face that was clearly meant to be condescending. "Look, I would make an exception for you newcomers, since you've obviously never been anywhere that has actual _standards_... but rules are rules and we do have a reputation to uphold." She paused, and then clarified. "This is the Blue Lagoon! Celestial Exalts _only_."

Though I knew better than to test the patience of any Lunar, I fumed as Shadowsbane ushered everyone else inside. He was laughing, like me being humiliated was no big deal at all. In the end, even Loren left me sitting out on the steps. He could have argued more on my behalf, but he just went inside. Apparently, I wasn't important enough to worry about.

As the sun went down and the moon rose, I watched the sky. During Calibration, the gods and all of the other functionaries of the Heavens rearrange the stars in the sky. Familiar patterns shift and change, some stars putter out and others are born in brilliant white explosions. The best fireworks show in Creation can't hope to compare with the majesty of a Calibration night. One minute, the sky is awash with crimson as far as you can see, then it's all blue or gold, and then black again and scattered with a thousand dancing points of light.

With all of the smog from the Nighthammer foundries in our world, I didn't doubt that I would have missed most of the spectacular show from the front porch of Anathema's.

But I wouldn't have been there alone. Though I hated to admit it, I was beginning to understand why the Dragonbloods felt compelled to revolt. Sure, the Solars were powerful, but that didn't give them the right to treat the rest of us like inferior animals!

Of course, I also got the distinct impression that I hadn't actually seen anything really bad yet _._

 _What's_ _wrong_ _with_ _your_ _Illuminated?_ I asked the Unconquered Sun, not that he heard me.

Talking to the God helped me to ground myself. Even if the Boss and his super friends were treating me like crap, staying mad at them wasn't going to help the situation. I had to admit that maybe what my mother had always told me was true. The Unconquered Sun hadn't made me special, but that wasn't anything to be ashamed of. There were benefits to being special, obviously, but there were also drawbacks. I had to imagine that it was sometimes hard for Solars to actually understand normal people. I also suspected that it was pretty difficult not to act arrogant when you knew that you were chosen by the most powerful god in existence.

A violent explosion rocked White Gold Tower several miles away. Since Crazy Quill was currently unaccounted for, I wondered if he'd gone back to the Well and riled up Perfect again. What seemed more likely to me was the possibility that Perfect actually treated all of her "guests" like "pests" and had her Whirlagig Drones exterminate anyone who interrupted her work. Quill the First's words came back to me, so full of venom.

 _They_ _deserve_ _it._

Did they? Was all the perfection that I thought I saw in the Solar's world really just a death mask, concealing a pestilence too horrible to imagine? _I thought about the protein rations at The Caterpillar. When Quill's ancestor had professed that the city was ready for a revolution, he'd sounded very serious._

 _This_ _can't_ _be_ _what_ _you_ _want._ _There's_ _something_ _wrong,_ _isn't_ _there?_ I asked the god.

No answer. Then again, there never was one.

"Deep in thought?" A familiar voice whispered, uncomfortably close to my ear.

I jumped to my feet and drew my sword all the way clear of its sheath as I realized who had snuck up on me. The Shoat of the Mire smirked.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to cut you to pieces," the Deathknight informed me. "I'm here to answer a question for you... that is, if you have the courage to ask it."

I blinked in surprise. My Murqai cousins always said that the Unconquered Sun worked in mysterious ways. I decided to trust him, though I couldn't guess why he'd use the Shoat of the Mire to deliver a message to me.

"There's something wrong with the Solars, isn't there? They're not just arrogant and corrupt, they're..." I felt silent.

"Mad. Yes. All of them. Even your beloved Boss," She informed me. "Completely mad. Cursed, you see. Their greatest strength becomes their greatest weakness. Those with conviction falter. The restrained overindulge. The valorous become cowardly. The compassionate, _cruel_." She finished.

"Loren's not like that!" I protested, maybe just to convince myself that it was true.

"Yes, he is. He's already begun to break, just like all of the others," the Shoat informed me. "But you knew that, didn't you? He told you that he was afraid. You told him that he didn't have any reason to be," she whispered. " _You_ _lied_."

I had lied to Loren. And the Shoat _was_ right, I was worried about him. More than once in the past ten years, I'd seen him start to fall apart. Of course, I hadn't known all along that he was a Solar, but there were two distinct versions of the Boss, the champion of Creation who fearlessly charged armies of fae... and the unforgivable coward who'd sooner run away than tell his friends or family the truth.

"Mother knows," The Shoat continued. "Mother knows everything and she would answer all of your questions. But she would ask you to do something for her in return."

"Forget it!" I sheathed my sword. "I'm not making deals with a Deathlord!"

"Oh, you say that _now_ , but you don't understand yet! Mother's plans are very intricate! You would find them most impressive if you could see how they anticipate _everything._ Mother has been looking into the Well for a very long time. She already knows what is going to happen next," the Shoat informed me. There was something very ominous in how she stood without making any swift motions in my direction. I still expected that she would try to kill me as she had before, but I was beginning to realize that maybe her motives weren't quite so simple.

"And your Mother wants to make a deal with me?" The words tasted funny as I spoke them.

"No. Not yet," the Shoat repeated. "But Mother is always watching, and when the time is right, she will speak to you. Right now, she only asks that you consider what you think you know. Nothing is as it seems. You cannot trust anyone, _Abadiyah_. Not even those you think are your friends."

"How do you know my name?" I demanded. _Nobody_ had called me by my name in years, and just hearing it spoken made my blood freeze in my veins. Just how much did the Shoat's "Mother" really see? I was certain that I didn't want to know.

I took a long look at the Calibration sky. It was a saffron color, which was said to reflect the Maiden of Journeys, but anything yellow or golden also made me think of the Unconquered Sun. If he had sent the Shoat, what did he want?

 _You'd_ _better_ _explain_ _all_ _of_ _this soon_. I informed him. _Because_ _right_ _now_ _you've_ _got_ _me_ _scared._

That was when the Boss stepped out of The Blue Lagoon. I felt bad about being angry with him, particularly since he'd brought me a plate of food and something to drink that smelled like it belonged on a higher plane of existence.

"Who are you talking to, Roach?" He wondered.

"Uh. Nobody, I guess," I admitted.

The Shoat of the Mire had disappeared.


	32. Chapter 31 - The Second Day (Roach)

**Chapter** **31**

 **The** **Second** **Day** **of** **Calibration**

After last call at the Blue Lagoon, we headed back to t _he_ _Monolith_. The accommodations that Shadowsbane had recommended for us turned out to be absurdly palatial, the kind of thing that would have cost a fortune in our own version of Nexus. Of course, since Essence was money, the five of us were basically running around with enough coin to buy our own small country.

Which was totally a Solar thing to do, I found out. More than one of the servants at the Monolith had asked me which city the Boss ruled. For however long we were stuck inside the Well, it was obvious that all of us would be living like kings. I figured that Crazy Quill was probably doing the same thing wherever it was that he'd spirited himself off to.

Though I really disliked being treated as a servant or a pet, being part of Loren's retinue wasn't all bad. I was still miffed about not being able to get into the Blue Lagoon with everyone else, but I couldn't deny that the place we were crashing would have made Three Pearls' establishment look like the Drunk Duck Inn.

Sapphire decided not to stay the night with the rest of us. Once she'd washed her face and changed her clothes again, she and Shadowsbane slipped off to a club called the Wolves' Den which I gathered was some kind of hangout for the local law enforcement. Sapphire seemed to be hitting it off really well with her previous incarnation, which was definitely creepy and made me think all kinds of things that I would have preferred not to be thinking. Still, both the Boss and Veritas agreed that we needed to make the most of our short time inside the Well, which meant that splitting up and collecting information independently was probably inevitable.

Dead tired, I made sure Loren fed some Essence into my translator spider and then hit the sack.

It was maybe two or three in the morning when Crazy Quill climbed in my window. Usually, he dressed in a "Solar" manner himself, favoring purples, blues, and golds, but for some reason he was wearing a nondescript tunic, a pair of patched pants and some rope sandals that I suspected he'd stolen from his not-so-illustrious ancestor.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demanded.

He motioned for me not to say anything, checked to see if he'd been followed and then closed the window he'd entered through, drawing the curtains.

"I found Sapphire at the Wolves' Den. Where is Faeslayer?" Crazy Quill pressed, not bothering to explain his attire or his entrance.

"Him and Amira are sleeping in the big room," I pointed to the set of double doors. "Veritas is across the hall."

"No, Veritas and Godchaser are actually on the roof," Crazy Quill corrected me. "Have you got everything you need?" He asked.

I immediately went for my sword and the couple other essentials I'd been carrying. "I do now,"

Really, I wasn't surprised that Quill had brought trouble. All things considered, I was beginning to think that a good night's sleep was something more or less mythical.

"Climb out the window," Crazy Quill ordered.

"Why?" I demanded.

"Don't ask stupid questions. You're about to be murdered," He informed me.

"Murdered!" I gasped.

"A horde of Dragonbloods led by a Sidereal," Crazy Quill explained. "Godchaser detected them entering this building from the fourth floor. They're obviously not paying guests, which means they're here for some other reason. To kill us," He informed me, opening the door to the Boss's room.

Amira woke up first and blinked at Crazy Quill groggily. "Quill?" She wondered. "What are you..."

"No time!" Crazy Quill interrupted. "You've got to get out of here!"

That was when a huge metal fan literally sheared my door in half. I almost jumped clear out the window as a man dressed in the black robes of a Realm official, _clothing_ _from_ _our_ _time_ , stepped over the splintered wood. He fanned himself dramatically with his weapon and pushed his sunglasses back up onto his nose.

"Himitsu!" Amira gasped. Clearly, she knew who he was... but then again, Amira knew a lot of things she never bothered to explain to anyone.

The Sidereal glanced briefly at me, and then his gaze came to rest on Crazy Quill.

The smile he gave was not very nice at all. "Well now, this is going to be _much_ easier than I anticipated!" He exclaimed.

"Get out of here!" I ordered him, not that I thought he would listen. "Right now, or I'm calling the desk!"

I did not understood what "calling the desk" actually meant, but it was what Shadowsbane had told me to do if there were any problems with our room.

"You'd have to be next to a terminal in order to do that. And I think you'll find that a few underpaid Dragonbloods and dozen constructs are really no match for an Agent of Heaven." Himitsu called my bluff. Of course, he was standing directly between me and the glass panel that was the "terminal" nearest to the door.

"So you're a Sidereal, hunh?" I observed. I was still getting used to the idea of Veritas's bogeymen being real.

"Chosen of Endings," He bowed dramatically.

"Endings? So that makes you what? A celestial assassin?" I guessed.

"I wouldn't put it that way. Everything that begins has an ending. It's not personal, it's necessary." He remarked.

"But you're here to kill us, right?" I watched his steel fan and considered how he'd broken down the door. He was obviously spoiling for a fight and was trying to make me give him one. I decided not to be so predictable. "What if I just surrendered to you right now? Could you still kill me?" I demanded.

"If it were your Fate to die," He replied.

"How do you know what my Fate is? It's Calibration right now. The stars are all moving everywhere, and right now we're not even in Creation!" I reminded him.

With practiced ease, Himitsu drew a second metal fan out of thin air. "Well, I don't personally believe that Fate is something that one "knows" intuitively. I like a more fluid definition myself. Do you know that old Murqai proverb? How does it go? Ah, yes! _Fate_ _throws_ _fortune,_ _but_ _not_ _everyone_ _catches?_ "

"I make my own Fate," I informed him, even as he gave me a really condescending look. Since I didn't like the guy right away, I didn't hesitate to do something I definitely wouldn't have done to an Exalt under normal circumstances.

"Catch this!" I seized the closest thing to me, which happened to be a chair, and hurled it at Himitsu as hard as I could. He easily chopped it to kindling with his massive steel fans, but doing that distracted him just long enough for the Boss to whack him solidly on the head with the flat of his daiklave.

The Sidereal crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

"Why didn't you kill him?" Amira wondered.

"He has information we might need," Loren informed her.

"Well played, Faeslayer," Crazy Quill agreed. When he was around, I'd kinda started to get the same feeling that I'd with Himitsu, like maybe I was playing into something that was much more complicated than it seemed.

 _If_ _I_ _end_ _up_ _walking_ _right_ _into_ _some_ _kind_ _of_ _a_ _trap,_ _it's_ _going_ _to_ _be_ _your_ _fault!_ I informed the Unconquered Sun. _You_ _should've_ _made_ _me_ _smart_ _like_ _Veritas!_

To be honest, I didn't really want to be as clever as Veritas was. The kinds of things that he was always talking about gave me a headache and caused normal people to stare at him. Even Loren's eyes glazed over sometimes when Veritas really got going, and Loren was one of the smartest people I knew.

After wrapping Himitsu in a sheet and binding his wrists with the golden cords from the draperies that surrounded Loren and Amira's bed, we heaved him up onto the roof. Veritas took my sword, which I didn't really want to sacrifice, and he bent its blade with Essence into a pretty intimidating pair of manacles that he seemed to believe would keep our prisoner from escaping when he regained consciousness.

Despite the fact that we'd been caught by Shadowsbane in front of the Caterpiller, Crazy Quill decided that his illustrious ancestor's "humble establishment" was the safest place to take our prisoner. Only Not-Yet-Dead Eddie was awake when we arrived, writing like a maniac. The piles of crumpled papers on his corner table nearly reached to his nose.

He swore incoherently as Crazy Quill waltzed inside, lugging the still-unconscious Himitsu. "We're taking this one into the wine cellar!" Crazy Quill proclaimed.

"Stop where you are!" Quill the First snapped. He was standing at the top of the stairs with his arms folded. "This is my property! I have rights! I'll call the authorities!" He warned.

"Please don't. We really need somewhere to hide right now," The Boss admitted. Him and Amira basically didn't have any clothes on, and Quill the First looked a little mortified when he saw the two of them standing in his doorway half naked.

"You can't just bring an unconscious man into my... No!" He blinked in disbelief, obviously recognizing Himitsu. "No! I know who this is! This is Himitsu! He's a very important Vizier! You can't just _kidnap_ a Sidereal! Who are you people?" Quill the First demanded.

"I've already introduced myself to you. I'm Adamant Quill," Crazy Quill bowed dramatically. "A very distant relative of yours. As you already know, I'm here in Nexus to sort out some things that..." He paused. "Need sorting?" He suggested, saying nothing.

"So you've said," Quill the First retorted.

"You should believe him. Although vague, everything he's told you so far is true," Veritas remarked. "And you should also know that this "Himitsu" character _was_ trying to kill us all and _is_ committing the most _severe_ treason imaginable He's an enemy of Creation."

"Shit. You're agents of the Deliberative?" Quill the First observed. He took a deep breath. "Is this about my treatise? Because I stand by what I wrote and I'm not going to apologize for it!"

" _Your_ _drivel_ actually got the Deliberative's attention?" Not-Yet-Dead Eddie scoffed. "I don't believe it!"

"Hey, be nice! Everybody's gotta start somewhere, _waiter_!" Amira elbowed the would-be playwright, who shot a black look in her direction. "Let's have a look at this controversial treatise, shall we?" She prompted.

With a heavy sigh, Quill the First reached into the breast pocket of his faded hapi coat and produced a single sheet of white paper. He handed it to Amira who unfolded it slowly and read over the entire thing. She sat in silence for a moment, seeming very troubled.

"What did I tell you? Drivel!" Not-Yet-Dead Eddie snorted.

"I hate to break it to you, Deadie... but it's better than anything you'll ever write." She paused. "How many of these have you printed?"

"Fifty-thousand." Quill admitted. "I'm starting another run. That's why this place is bankrupt, you understand? I have to make sure everyone stays away from here..." He glanced at Not-Yet-Dead Eddie. "Or we'll get caught. And the revolution will be in danger."

"I see," Crazy Quill observed. He didn't sound at all surprised, but nor did he sound impressed.

I was impressed, and I hadn't even read Quill the First's treatise yet.

"To be honest, I don't like what he's saying, but I don't think he's wrong," Amira admitted. She slid the paper over to the Boss. When he finished the first paragraph, he looked a bit uncomfortable himself.

"I agree," he decided. "This is a very dangerous piece of paper," Loren paused. "But it's not why we're here."

"It's not?" Quill the First wondered uneasily.

"No," Loren replied.

I found that I couldn't keep my own mouth shut. "Do you really think this treatise of yours is going to cause a revolution?"

"I can hope, can't I?" Quill the First paused. "But no, you still don't understand! It's the corruption of the Deliberative and the conditions the common people live under that are going to cause the revolution, not my words! I'm just trying to convince people that they should seize control of their own Fates. In other cities, the Dragonbloods have already started killing off their masters! They've only hesitated here because they're terrified of the Three Circles Society! Somewhere in Nexus, our enlightened overlords have constructed a device that could _literally_ rip Creation in half!" He informed us. "Let's be honest... nobody wants to step on that."

"Nor should they," Veritas paused. "The device that you've just mentioned? That's the reason we're here. We need to get our hands on essential part which belongs to it. It's an iridescent stone like this one." He held out his circlet for Quill the First to examine.

"Looks like a hearthstone." Quill the First observed.

"It's a protoscemaic vortex," Veritas explained. "This is just a fragment of it. The vortex itself is about the size of an egg."

"I've never seen anything like it," Quill the First admitted. He turned to Crazy Quill, who only shrugged. Sapphire looked confused to. It was nice to see that I wasn't the only one who felt stupid around Veritas. "What does it do?"

"It would take me forever to explain. Suffice to say, the vortex is extremely dangerous. Our enemies are already looking for it, and if it's mishandled the results might be... catastrophic. We have very little time to find it. Please assist us."

"We're on the same side you're on," Loren added. "The side of Creation."

That was my line, but I didn't mind that he'd appropriated it again.

"So just how do all of you know so much about this doomsday device anyway?" Not-Yet-Dead Eddie demanded. Everyone had been ignoring him and clearly he felt compelled to remind everyone of his presence.

"Well, that's the part you might find a little difficult to believe." Veritas shook his head heavily. He seemed to hesitate for a moment and then looked up to face Quill the First, very purposefully illuminating his Caste Mark. Our Quill followed suit, and so did Sapphire. With a heavy sigh, Loren did the same.

Quill the First jumped out of his skin and Not-Yet-Dead Eddie flipped his chair over and hit the floor. The two stared at one another, and then at the four Solars who were asking for their help.

"We built it," the Boss finished. "We _are_ the Three Circles Society."

Loren took it upon himself to stay up all night and explain everything to Quill the First. I fell asleep at some point and really couldn't tell you what they talked about. Suffice to say, by the time that I woke up, Crazy Quill disappeared yet again with no explanation. That really set the tone for the day, because each time Quill had previously disappeared, he'd reappeared several hours later, pursued by someone who wanted to kill him and probably the rest of us.

Though Quill the First took his revolution business very seriously, he obviously wasn't ready to put his own life on the line for "the greater good". In more ways than one, the would-be revolutionary was beginning to remind me of our Quill. As it turned out, Quill the First, had put together a pretty impressive contingency plan for himself that would allow him to get out of Nexus if agents of Deliberative were ever sent to arrest him for his controversial writings. "Plan F" involved the use of several different sewers and short jaunt down a "Celestial Exalts only" portion of the Whispering Serpent. Looking it over a few times, I kinda suspected it would actually work.

When Veritas described the sound that the Well of Udr made, Quill the First marked a place on his sewer map where he'd heard that same bizarre combination of winds, rushing water, and mysterious crackling. It was as good a place to start as any, and we decided to check it out later in the day.

Loren and Veritas spent the entire morning trying to get information out of Himitsu, who remained an unbreakable bastard, while Sapphire, Amira, and I ran around Firewander asking about Quill until someone mentioned that they'd seen Peacekeeper Shadowsbane and his Dragon Guard out looking for us. Then we went back to the Caterpillar to lie low for a little while.

The common room was surprisingly crowded. I couldn't guess why so many people had suddenly decided to start taking their midday meal at a place that didn't serve anything which remotely resembled food... but then I realized that there were stacks and stacks of Quill the First's notorious treatise just arrived from the printers. Everyone present was collecting a stack and quickly leaving the Caterpillar, presumably to spread the message.

Not-Yet-Dead Eddie moaned about having to work, and Sapphire dodged all of the eager revolutionaries who were praising the most recent work of Adamant Quill. She had an irritated expression on her face the whole time. Clearly she was beginning to suspect the same thing that I did, that we were somehow being played... and that it was probably the Sidereals who were still one step ahead of us.

When we finally did worm our way through the crowd and managed to get down to the wineceller, we discovered that Loren had taken a fairly substantial blow to the head and Veritas had been tied up in the sword restraint that he'd made for Himitsu. Quill the First was nowhere to be found, and neither was our prisoner. There was a huge scorch mark on the floor, which I stared at.

"What happened?" Sapphire demanded. Loren only groaned.

"Stupid Sidereal," Godchaser seethed, hissing the word as if it were the worst curse she could think of.

Apparently, Himitsu had tried to steal her after setting himself free, but he'd failed to realize that Veritas was well aware that many Sidereals were intent on getting their hands on his beloved construct and had equipped her to defend herself. Godchaser had apparently electrocuted Himitsu "like ten lightning spears!", and he'd decided that she was "an insane, evil machine", which was an understatement if I'd ever heard one.

Fortunately, the Sidereal had been surprisingly sloppy in the process of his escape, and Godchaser was able to track his Essence halfway across Firewander. His trail ran cold right above a ladder leading out of the sewers, the same one that was marked on Quill the First's "Plan F".

We all stared up.

"This is a trap," Sapphire decided.

"Without a doubt," Veritas agreed. "But we if we lose Himitsu now, we might never catch him. So what we need to do now is find some way to make this trap look like it didn't actually work."

"I've got a plan!" I volunteered.

Amira crossed her arms and glared at me. "Really?"

"Amira, you disguised yourself as Dragonblood when you came to rescue me from Yarati." I prompted. "Can you make yourself look like anyone else?"

"No. There's a ritual involved. I actually have to kill someone if want to take their form. And I'd really rather not do that," she admitted. "That Dragonblood was a bastard, honestly. He had it coming to him. But even still, it was..."

Loren interrupted her. "There _is_ another way. But it's not... um, well..."

"I'm not going to do it with just anyone." Amira finished.

"What? You don't mean... aw, _seriously_?" Sapphire made the most awful face I'd ever seen.

Amira sighed in defeat. She folded her hands behind her back and bowed her head for a moment, muttering some Old Realm words that my spider wouldn't translate.

When she looked back up at us, she was Loren.

"That's..." Sapphire began.

"Perfect!" I exclaimed.

"I was going to say _incredibly_ _creepy_." Sapphire grimaced. "So can any Lunar do what you just did?"

"No, it's something I'm not actually supposed to know. The No Moons like to keep certain secrets for themselves. But my mentor Laughing Mask was a bit of an anarchist," Amira-Loren admitted.

"Okay, so let's say I've had sex with..." Sapphire began. She didn't get a chance to finish her question.

Amira-Loren cackled, bouncing up and down. "Viper? Luna's blessed tits! Hah! Oh, she's probably used it on you already!" "Anarchist" didn't even begin to describe Viper. I smiled slightly.

"I don't even want to know," Veritas sighed heavily. "Though I must admit, Roach's plan may actually work."

"Send me up first!" I volunteered. "Himitsu's expecting you two, right?" I turned to Loren and Veritas. "So I put on Godchaser, he's not going to realize that I'm _me_ right away. He'll see me and Amira, and he'll think that _we're_ you two!"

"That should distract him long enough for both of us to shape some sorcery." Veritas smiled slightly, and Loren nodded in agreement. "But Godchaser is extremely heavy, Roach! You might not be able to carry her."

"I'll hover!" Godchaser volunteered. "Hee!"

Obviously, somebody liked my plan.

It was pretty weird having the construct wrapped all around me. As Veritas had warned, I felt a little bit like I was wearing a jacket made of lead, despite the fact that Godchaser was hovering slightly to keep me from having to bear the burden of her full weight.

She giggled.

"This whole thing is going to look... odd." Loren admitted.

"Well, it doesn't have to work for very long!" Veritas smiled slightly.

"And you've got me too!" Sapphire volunteered. "If the four of you make a big enough circus out of this trap, it won't matter how many Sidereals are waiting for us in there. If no one is looking at me, I can take them _all_ out!"

I didn't doubt that she could. Backstabbing a dozen backstabbers at once seemed like a quintessentially "Night Caste" thing to do.

I started to climb the wall. "You want some help up there, Roach?" Loren wondered.

"Nah, I got it!" I winked, using the leg-up that Sapphire discreetly offered me in order to get myself onto the bottom rug of the ladder. At the top was a metal plate, definitely too heavy for any normal city worker to have put into place. When I pounded on it with my fist, it felt like steel, but when I put my nose up against it and tried to push, I realized that it had a weird, familiar smell.

"Hey, I think I found a big piece of orichalcum!" I shouted down. "You want to get up here and push it out of the way, Boss?"

"Allow me," Veritas volunteered. I hopped down from my perch. Invoking a Charm that I hadn't heard him use before, he reached up and touched the metal. It became liquid in his grasp, snaked around him and then briefly re-solidified into a shape that made me think of a flame frozen in time.

"Oooh, neat Charm!" Sapphire exclaimed.

"I haven't perfected it yet. It won't stay re-constituted." He admitted, though he still looked smug. The piece of rare metal that he'd reshaped had turned into a puddle and was dripping into the sewer.

"Anything else in our way?" Loren wondered.

Sapphire gave me another boost up. With the orichalcum plate out of the way, I found a cleverly concealed trap door made of ordinary wood and iron. There was a creaking sound as I pried it open. For a minute, all any of us could hear was our own breathing. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the bright light I'd emerged out into, and when I realized where we were, a few choice curse words escaped me.

"Loren, you're not going to believe this!" I shouted down, completely forgetting that I was supposed to be disguised as Veritas. "Get up here, now!"

I'd just climbed out of the Well of Udr. But there was no blue light, no whistling or whooshing sound. The Well was just a ring of lifeless stone standing in the middle of Perfect's laboratory which had been completely ransacked.

Amira-Loren poked her head out of the Well. Because her Loren disguise didn't change her clothing, she looked odd. Amira didn't like clothes, generally speaking. At the Caterpillar she'd donned a one-piece brown garment that looked like a dress made from a military tent.

I smiled slightly, remember how Amira had once forced the Boss into a dress so that we could sneak him past the Wyld Hunt into Nexus. He'd been absolutely mortified the entire time. Seeing Amira flouncing around like her usual self while wearing Loren's face was _very_ weird.

But of course, my life hadn't been normal in a long time.

I didn't notice that Sapphire had come to the surface at all until Godchaser whispered that she was hiding behind me. There was still no sign of any Sidereal trap. After a few minutes of waiting, we decided that the coast was clear and Loren and Veritas came up.

Amira resumed her usual form. We all surveyed the mess. Amira whistled.

"She moved it," Veritas observed. "Perfect moved the Well. And the protoscemaic vortex with it."

"Yeah, but where to?" Wasn't the Well in White Gold Tower when Quill originally found it?" I asked.

"That's what he told me, but I'm starting to wonder much we should really trust him," Sapphire admitted. "We've been in this mess for days now and he's left us to take care of almost everything on our own. Granted, he did save you four back at The Monolith, but that's not going to get him a "Circlemate of the Year" award."

"No kidding." I rolled my eyes. "Sapphire, you know Quill better than any of us do. If he wanted to hide something, where would he put it?"

"Well, I know that he _did_ move it under the Tomb of Red Hot Iron in Nighthammer," Sapphire admitted. She looked awfully nervous and was watching every corner of the laboratory like she still thought we were being watched. "That's where I accidentally activated for the second time. But I don't know where that would be in relation to where we are now... and Quill's too smart to use the same hiding place twice."

"Aren't we looking for where Perfect would hide the Well?" Loren wondered.

"As far as we know," I nodded. "But if we want to figure out where Perfect would put the Well, we've got to know who she's trying to hide it from. The Deathknights or the Sidereals?"

There was a long moment of silence.

"Quill," Sapphire decided.

"I was going to say Himitsu," I admitted. "That guy took on Veritas _and_ Loren! At the same time!"

"He's a lot stronger than he looks," Loren admitted.

Veritas gave Sapphire a strange look. "Quill?" He asked. "Granted, he's been running around all by himself and causing trouble, but that's typical for him. I don't think he actually understands the concept of teamwork."

Sapphire hesitated "There's something I should have told you all a long time ago. Quill's been through the Well before. And so have I," She admitted, looking very ashamed to have kept something so important from the rest of.

"Sapphire!" Veritas gasped. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Look, two years ago, Quill brought me here and showed me around. We lived like kings for four days and then the Usurpation started and he made me watch the whole thing. The worst parts of it. I couldn't sleep for months. Viper kept asking me why, but I couldn't tell her. Quill made me swear an oath never to tell anyone!" Sapphire confessed.

"An oath _sealed_ _under Heaven_ which you've now broken?" Veritas observed. "I hope that you understand that the consequences of telling us this could be as severe for you as the consequences of not telling us could have been for all of Creation.

"I should never have agreed to lie for him," Sapphire sighed heavily. "And whatever the price is, I'm just going to have to pay it now," she rubbed her nose, and for a minute it looked like she was about to start crying. "You... you should know there's more. Quill is..."

She didn't finish what she'd been about to say, and Veritas didn't pressure her to.

We weren't alone. Himitsu and the Red Queen were standing together in the doorway of the laboratory. About four feet away from them, Amira stood frozen.

"Loren?" She whispered feebily. I'd never seen her so terrified before, and it took me a moment to realize why. There was a scorpion on her neck, but no normal animal. It was purple and green, and its shape seemed to be constantly changing.

"Don't move, Amira. I've got this!" Loren soothed, not taking his eyes off of Himitsu or the Red Queen. They both looked very smug and I slowly began to realize that we'd all played right into their hands.

"All of you, put your weapons down... and step away from the Well," the Red Queen ordered. "You may be fast, Faeslayer, but my scorpion is _much_ quicker."

Sapphire obediently dropped her firewands. Since I didn't have a weapon myself, I just held my hands up in the air. So did Veritas.

I noticed with some amusement that he was wearing the exploding glove he'd stolen from his previous incarnation and figured that would probably come in handy, especially since the Sidereals didn't seem to realize that it was actually a weapon. I wondered why neither of them seemed to notice that Well had already been moved out of White Gold Tower. If both of them had passed through it at least once, how could they fail to realize that the stone ring we were standing in front of should have been glowing bright blue and making a whole lot of noise?

"Let her go!" Loren ordered, advancing a step.

The Red Queen was on him lighting fast. She was definitely a martial artist, but fortunately, so was the Boss. Veritas lunged forward himself, firing a burst from his gauntlet at Himitsu. He dodged as if he hadn't even be standing in front of the door.

The Red Queen obviously decided that she'd gotten more than she bargained for when Loren nearly ran her through with his daiklave. A sea of charcoal-colored spiders flowed out from the sleeves of Himitsu's jacket, but they didn't get very far. Veritas's little army of constructs blocked their path.

"You know Sidereal martial arts?" Himitsu wondered, eying Veritas suspiciously.

"No." Veritas admitted. "I just like spiders."

"Hee!" Godchaser exclaimed. I couldn't get out from underneath her quickly enough. There were tiny copper and orichalcum spiders literally pouring out of her by the bucketful. Himitsu drew both of his steel fans out of Elsewhere. Spiders swarmed around him.

Both of the Sidereals looked _very_ nervous, like they really couldn't think of anything worse to be facing.

"I said, put your weapons down!" The Red Queen repeated. The scorpion on Amira's neck pulled back its tail to strike, and she cringed. Loren froze, barely parrying one of Himitsu's fans. "And that means all of them!"

Sapphire stood right behind the Red Queen with her boot knife, but the Sidereal evidently knew that she was there. She craned her neck slightly and Sapphire obediently dropped her weapon. Veritas slipped off his glove, tossed it on the ground, and motioned for his army of spiders to stop advancing. Loren sighed in defeat. His daiklave made a sound like an Imperial gong as it struck the marble floor.

"No!" Amira cried. "Loren, don't! She's going to kill you!"

And that was the last thing she said. As soon as she moved, the scorpion struck.

Amira choked and collapsed.

"Amira!" Loren called his daiklave, and it came flying back into his grasp. Holding the sword out in front of him, he did something I'd only seen him do once before. When he'd saved me from getting eaten by the Alabastar Duchess, he'd fired a burst of Essence from his daiklave that tore through anything in its way with the force of a hurricane.

The attack that Loren had struck with took out the front doors of White Gold Tower. He sent two slabs of solid orichalcum flying into the air like a couple of pieces of paper. Almost no one could have reacted quicker, but somehow, a mere heartbeat before Loren would cut both of them in half, Himitsu and the Red Queen had disappeared. Amira was also gone, and I could only guess that they'd taken her with them.

I got the distinct impression that there was something very wrong with what the Sidereals had just done, something that should have been inherently impossible. But what I really couldn't wrap my head around was the fact that Amira might be dead. I'd ruined my own stupid plan and gotten my best friend's wife killed. It wasn't something I could forgive myself for.

 _How_ _could_ _you_ _let_ _something_ _like_ _this_ _happen?_ I demanded, gazing skyward. There was no answer from the Unconquered Sun. Then again, there never was.

At first, Loren didn't say anything at all. He didn't move or even breath. The first thought that came to my mind was that he was broken, that the strength he always seemed to possess had suddenly and inexplicably deserted him. The Boss looked worse than I'd ever seen him before, like part of him had just died.

He stared at Veritas who was blazing with Essence after activating all of his spiders at once. The look on his face was really, really scary. It was like Loren didn't know who Veritas was and had never seen anyone more horrifying. And then Loren uttered a word that I never thought I'd hear him speak again.

" _Anathema._ "

" _What_ _did_ _you_ _call_ _me_?" Veritas curled up his lip into a condescending sneer... a face that suited his previous incarnation much better than it suited him. I knew from experience that he twitched whenever he heard someone say the word "demon" or "Anathema" in reference to a Solar, but I'd never seen him quite so upset. The way he was reacting wasn't at all rational. I might have turned tail and started running away if I hadn't been so worried about the Boss.

"Stay away from me, demon!" Loren ordered, stumbling to his feet. "I mean it!"

"How dare you..." Veritas fumed. And then he stopped. He blinked several times as if he'd just woken up from sleep. "I... ah, sorry." He apologized. "I don't know what came over me."

"You all right, Loren?" Sapphire wondered. She was glowing too, not as brightly as Veritas, but her shroud cloth was tucked in her belt and her Caste Mark was obvious.

Loren backed away from her.

"Faeslayer, what's the matter with you? Have you lost your mind?" Veritas demanded. As he strode towards Loren, I saw that the Boss was retreating as quick as he could.

He was afraid?

Not for the first time, I considered what the Shoat had told me outside of the Blue Lagoon.

"Stop, it! Veritas, Sapphire... stay back! Loren doesn't know who you are!" I shouted.

Truthfully, I didn't expect that he would recognize me either, not in the state that he was in... but when I drew attention to myself, the Boss relaxed slightly. Sapphire took my hand and squeezed it as I approached Loren. She clearly didn't know what was happening either, and she was worried.

The Boss noticed that little gesture of familiarity and turned to me with an incredulous expression on his face. "Roach? You know these demons?" He demanded.

"Yeah, and so do you! Damnit, Boss! Look at me! Do you trust me?" I asked.

He hesitated, but not for long. "Yes," he decided.

"There's something wrong with your mind, Loren," I explained. "We want to help you, but you have to let us. These are your friends, Sapphire, and Veritas. You call him Recluse. You remember Recluse, right?"

He nodded only slightly, and I didn't get the impression that he remembered anything at all.

"Where are we, Roach?" Loren whispered uneasily. "Why are my friends Anathema?"

"They're not Anathema. That's a bad word. They're Solars, Boss. And you're a Solar too." I told him. He stared at me in disbelief.

"Look at yourself, you great big idiot!" Sapphire knelt down and tried to take Loren's hand. He recoiled like he'd been struck by a snake and she sighed heavily, producing a little steel mirror from one of the many pouches on her belt.

Loren stared. His Caste Mark had only barely started to flicker, but it was unmistakable.

"No!" He cursed, trying to stand. His legs gave out and he slid down to the floor. "No, no, no!"

I realized as I saw him sitting there shaking, that I was witnessing what it must have been like for him when he first Exalted. He really, truly, thought that he was a monster. For someone like the Boss, who always tried to be so damned _good,_ I couldn't think of a more awful curse.

I wanted to reassure Loren that everything was going to be all right, but neither Veritas or I got another word in. Before I could try to explain, Crazy Quill came busting through the front doors of the laboratory.

He was out of his "poor peasant" attire and dressed all in white. I might have mistaken him for Veritas considering the cloak that he wore, but the ivory mask that dangled from the orichalcum chain around his neck wasn't smiling like Godchaser nearly always was. His Caste Mark blazed, and he looked huge and terrifying.

I'd always suspected the bastard was hiding something, and now I knew _exactly_ what Sapphire had been trying to tell us before the Sidereals made their appearance.

"You're the Emissary!" Veritas blurted out. His tone suggested that he'd suspected such a thing all along but wasn't exactly pleased to discover that his suspicions were corrected.

"The Emissary?" Loren echoed. "Roach, what's going on?" He demanded.

"Oh, I'd dearly hoped that it wouldn't come to this!" Quill inhaled deeply. His eyes were bloodshot and he was shaking like a drug addict. There was no way he was in his right mind, and from how Veritas and Sapphire both gave him a whole lot of space, I figured that they noticed how he moved and jerked around like he was at war with his own body.

"I'm sorry, Faeslayer. But you've forced my hand and _now_ _I_ _have_ _no_ _choice_!" Without a moment's hesitation, he leveled a lightning spear at Loren.

I'm not really sure if Veritas moved first or if I did, but Godchaser tackled Quill, and I shoved the Boss. There was a deafening explosion and a blinding flash of light. Pain like nothing I'd ever felt before made me crumple up like a rag doll and I stared up at the ceiling, my vision blurring.

Was I breathing? Was I dead?

I knew that I'd taken a hit meant to kill Loren, and that was all. My head swam and I felt myself sinking into the dark. And then I heard a voice, a woman's voice that I was sure I'd heard before, in a time that I couldn't remember. "You're going to die, _Abadiyah_."

"No!" I protested. I didn't want to die!

"Oh yes. You are, and there is nothing you can do about it!" The woman replied.

"You're lying!" I argued, though my own words didn't sound convincing to me.

"Why would I lie to you, Abadiyah? You're a _very_ _special_ _boy_ and I want to protect you... if you'll let me. You wouldn't have to be afraid of anything. Nothing would ever be able to hurt you again." She whispered. "And you would be strong, like your friends. You'd like that, wouldn't you? They wouldn't look down on you any more. You poor orphan. You could become my child, you know. I could become your mother."

That was when I realized that the voice I was hearing belonged to the Dowager herself. There was no mistaking the offer that was being put in front of me. The Deathlord would save me as she promised, but she'd make me into a monster like the Shoat and her horrible "Sister".

"No!" I would have cursed at her if I hadn't been so damned afraid, if I hadn't been acutely aware of the cold and of my own life force ebbing away. "No!" I protested. "I won't! You can't make me! No! I..."

My resolve began to falter. I'd already seen that the Dowager was right. My friends, even Loren, were all insane! Creation couldn't possibly go back to the way it had once been! If the Solars ever returned to power, they'd destroy the world from the inside out! They _were_ cursed!

The worst part was, I didn't know if I'd ever really been on the right side at all, or if I'd just let my own personal feelings cloud my judgment. Maybe I'd made Loren into a hero in my own mind. Maybe I'd decided that Sapphire and even Veritas were all right too, because they were his friends.

When had I started thinking that any of them were _my_ friends?

My mother was right all along, I decided. The Unconquered Sun had not made me clever, he hadn't made me strong, and he didn't even notice when I prayed to him! It would have made sense to give up right then, but something told me not to, and so I fought against my own fear with all of the strength I had left.

 _Help_ _me._ I prayed to the Unconquered Sun. _If_ _you've_ _ever_ _cared,_ _if_ _you've_ _ever_ _listened..._

No response. Then again, there never was.

"Consider what I'm offering you," Mother soothed. "This is your chance, Abadiyah. Your _only_ chance. No one even knows your name. It won't hurt you to give it up. Think!" She advised.

So I did. I thought long and hard.

And I told her _no_.


	33. Chapter 32 - Big Damn Heroes (Roach)

**Chapter** **33**

 **Big** **Damn** **Heroes**

Waking up was nasty business, but I'd expected to be dead... so just the fact that I my heart was still beating felt like a bona-fide miracle. I was wrapped in so many bandages that I couldn't really move. We were back at the Caterpillar. Loren was sitting at my bedside with his head buried in his hands. He looked exhausted.

Sapphire and Veritas were hunched over a bottle of wine with a stack of papers and about fifty of his orichalcum spiders between the two of them. Half of the spiders were working on repairing one of Sapphire's firewands and the rest were fiddling with Godchaser, who wasn't conscious and seemed to be very badly singed.

I didn't see any sign of Amira or Quill. I couldn't guess what time or day it was, but I got the distinct feeling that I'd been out for awhile.

Sapphire glanced at Loren, who didn't seem to notice her. "So he doesn't even remember what happened to Roach?" She whispered to Veritas.

"I know how it sounds," Veritas admitted. "Sapphire, I wish I had an explanation for you, but... I've never witnessed anything like this before. Although I do remember Rhapsody saying something about all Solars being _cursed_."

"Cursed?" Sapphire raised an eyebrow in my direction. "All of us? Who could do something like that? And _why_ _would_ _they_?"

"Why, I don't know. But as for who… Sidereals," Veritas replied.

"You think that Sidereals are behind everything!" Sapphire scolded.

"Because they _are_ behind everything!" I protested, trying to sit up. That turned out to be a mistake.

Both Sapphire and Veritas raced over to my bedside. Loren jumped. He also shook me furiously, which hurt a lot. "Roach!" He gasped. "You're alive?"

"Only _barely!_ " I informed him. I decided not to mention that it still hurt to breathe.

"Sun-in-Glory, I thought I'd lost you!" Loren shook his head heavily.

The fact that the Boss had appropriated Veritas's favorite curse made me smile. Clearly, he was himself again.

"What happened?" Loren turned to me. "I know how you got hurt, but what happened to me? Why didn't I stop that lunatic from shooting you? I must have had an opportunity!"

"I don't know, Loren," I admitted. "When Amira collapsed, it was like you just... broke."

He sat in silence for a moment, considering what I'd said. "I _knew_ there was something wrong with me. I could feel it building up, but I couldn't... I couldn't do anything about it."

"It's a curse," Veritas explained. "It's nothing that you can control, Faeslayer. What we have to do is figure out who did this to us, so that we can all get back to the way that we were meant to be. But that may take a long time. The best we can do for now is try to watch each other."

"And ask for help," I supplied. Veritas gave me an odd look. " _Pray,_ " I clarified.

"Pray?" Sapphire echoed, like I'd just said something crazy.

Loren frowned.

"You don't pray? None of you?" I really couldn't believe it.

"I used to," Sapphire admitted.

"You guys are unbelievable! You are the Chosen of the most powerful God there is and you _never_ ask him for help? I talk to him all the time and he doesn't even know I exist!" I sighed heavily. "Will somebody open the window?" I suggested.

Loren got up and did as I'd asked. The sun was just clearing the horizon line. Sapphire blinked owlishly. Veritas smiled. So did Loren. There were still some clouds, but the sunrise was absolutely spectacular.

Then, to my surprise, Veritas cleared his throat and began to recite a prayer that I knew very well. The words were somewhat different in Flametongue, the way my Murqai cousins spoke it, but the meaning was the same. Sapphire blinked in surprise, obviously recognizing the prayer herself. By the second line we were all reciting it together.

" _Sol_ _Invictus,_ _powerful_ _and_ _mighty,_ _bestower_ _of_ _great_ _gifts_

 _Who_ _cherishes_ _and_ _nurtures,_ _through_ _whom_ _we_ _live_ _and_ _draw_ _the_ _breath_ _of_ _being,_

 _We_ _offer_ _and_ _accord_ _you_ _the_ _highest_ _thanks._

 _Please_ _hear_ _and_ _aid_ _us,_ _and_ _help_ _us_ _out_ _of_ _misfortune._

 _Grant_ _us_ _peace,_ _safety_ _and_ _good_ _health._ _Show_ _our_ _eyes_ _the_ _truth,_ _place_ _only_ _kind_ _words_ _upon_ _our_ _tongues. And_ _guide_ _our_ _actions_ _to_ _the_ _betterment_ _of_ _all._ _Protect_ _us_ _as_ _we_ _work_ _in_ _your_ _name_."

I couldn't stop myself from smiling as I heard the Boss finish in Old Realm, just a little slower than the rest of us. The clouds moved, and rays of light suddenly illuminated our ugly little room. "See? The Unconquered Sun heard that! He heard it!" I exclaimed, fairly jumping out of my bed. For about a minute, I felt completely cured. Then I remembered that I'd almost been killed and slumped back down, dizzy and woozy.

"We're outside of Fate, Roach. We'd have to be very, very, lucky... and even then, if the Unconquered Sun did hear us, he wouldn't necessary _help_ ," Veritas informed me. Though he was trying to sound like a scholar of theology, he couldn't fool me. I'd seen him with Rhapsody, and I knew he was a believer.

"Are you kidding? He's already helped us!" Sapphire looked positively awed. "Why did we never do that before? I used to pray, before I was ever Exalted. I don't know why I stopped. I guess I just started thinking that I didn't need to," she paused. "That's incredibly stupid, isn't it?"

"It's not stupid. Sometimes I forget too," Loren took Sapphire's hand, and Veritas put in his own. Their Caste Marks all flickered faintly, and I realized that what they were doing was sort of like what my Murqai cousins did when they cut their palms, shook hands, and became "blood brothers".

"This, right here, right now..." Loren smiled. "Is _exactly_ what a Circle is supposed to be."

It felt good to watch the three of them discover something that had always been obvious to me. _Nice_ _work_. I told the Unconquered Sun, not that he needed the complement. As Sapphire sometimes called him, "The Big Guy" was nothing if impressive. He also had really great dramatic timing.

"Roach?" Veritas turned to me. "Get over here, will you?"

"What?" I blinked in surprise.

"We decided when you were out," Sapphire explained. "We want you to join our new Circle."

"Are you serious?" I wasn't sure what I'd just heard. Loren smiled.

"You bet," Sapphire nodded.

"Don't think you can get out of this just because you're mortal! You're swearing in!" Veritas smirked.

"Do I get a vote?" I asked hopefully.

"The same as the rest of us," Loren replied.

"And you're not going to try to leave me behind anymore?" I prompted. "If I want to go, I can go anywhere you do?"

"Yes," Loren promised.

"All right then," I couldn't exactly walk, but I scooted in his direction and put my hand in. I could feel the Essence swirling around Veritas, Sapphire and Loren. When they passed it to each other, I could actually feel it move right through me.

I remember thinking very clearly... _this_ _is_ _the_ _power_ _of_ _the_ _Unconquered_ _Sun!_

 _This_ _is_ _what_ _it's_ _like_ _to_ _be_ _a_ _Solar!_

It was absolutely the coolest feeling in the world.

Virtually every soldier imagines what it would be like to be part of a real Sworn Brotherhood, to go out out on adventures, kill monsters, save damsels, and generally do the kind of things that other people write books about. As far as I knew, however, no Prince of the Earth had ever invited a non-Dragonblood to join a Sworn Brotherhood. I wondered if any other mortal had ever been inducted into a Solar Circle before.

"From here on out, we act as one!" Loren announced. "We look after each other."

"No secrets!" Sapphire decided. "We make decisions together."

We do what the Unconquered Sun wants. We fix Creation," Veritas added.

"And we protect it," Loren continued. "From fae, demons, Deathknights. "

"And other Solars!" Sapphire added.

"And Sidereals," Veritas finished. " _Nothing_ gets past us!"

"Are we all agreed?" Loren asked. "At this point, the Eclipse Caste of our Circle would normally bind us all together under Heaven, but since the only Eclipse Caste we know is a lunatic..."

"I think a promise is sufficient," Veritas replied. "We're supposed to trust each other, aren't we?" He paused for a moment. "So what do we call ourselves now? We're not exactly the Three Circles Society anymore."

"And thank the Unconquered Sun for that!" Sapphire rolled her eyes. "I think one lifetime of almost destroying the world is enough, don't you?

"I suppose we'll have to consider some options," Veritas admitted. "When we have some more time, that is." He took a deep breath. "So, Circlemates?"

I grinned. After letting go of Loren's hand, I couldn't feel the Essence flowing anymore, but I knew that it was still there. Sometimes mortal monks and thamaturges learned to work Essence. The same was true of priests. My own mother had been an Essence-user. For the first time in my life, I considered that maybe I could become one myself.

"This is where we currently stand," Veritas announced. "Adamant Quill is the Emissary. He is probably old enough to remember the Usurpation, though I've no idea how he survived it."

"I know," Sapphire sighed heavily. "His relative, Quill the First?" She prompted. "Quill _is_ Quill."

"You mean, our Quill _is_ his own ancestor? The one who's been writing those treatises and trying to overthrow the Deliberative?" Veritas frowned.

Sapphire nodded. "Today, in the middle of the Usurpation, is when he Exalts." She explained. "His own revolutionaries almost eat him alive. But he gets away. He never explained exactly how."

"The Well," Loren interrupted. "Plan F. He used the Well of Udr."

"But the Well wasn't there when we used Quill's escape plan! Perfect moved it!"

"This time, she did," Sapphire explained. "But whatever this world is, it's not the real past. It plays the same five days of Calibration over and over again. Sometimes, things are slightly different. But the ending is always the same."

"I see. So if Quill used the Well of Udr to escape the Usurpation 1,500 years ago, it does explain how the Sidereals missed him when they killed the rest of us." Veritas observed. "You know, he went on for awhile the other night on the nature of oppression. How power corrupts, and how did he put it? Absolute power corrupts absolutely?"

"That is _a_ _lot_ of irony," I observed. "Have any of you seen Quill the First recently?"

"Not since before Quill the Mad tried to kill us all," Veritas admitted.

"Those two Quills aren't our only problem. Amira has been kidnapped. Himitsu and the Red Queen have every reason to keep her alive. They wouldn't have taken her with them if she was dead," the Boss explained. "They must be after the protoscemaic vortex just like we are. Amira is going to be his bargaining chip."

I raised my hand. It seemed important that I volunteer the information that I'd been witholding myself.

"The Shoat of The Mire is here. Her Sister probably is too."

"Roach!" Loren exclaimed. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

I hesitated. "The Dowager made me an offer," I confessed.

"Don't tell me you actually considered it?" Loren stared at me in disbelief.

"The Shoat told me that you were cursed, Loren. She told me that you were losing your mind, and I didn't believe her. But then you lost it. And I... yeah, I considered it," It felt like an enormous concession to make.

"I see," Loren observed. His face was impossible to read, and I felt awful for reminding him what had happened. I knew that it was something that would weigh heavily on him for a long time.

"So now what?" Veritas wondered. "Now you know it's true. We _are_ all cursed."

"But you're still the good guys," I informed him.

"Well, I hope so," Loren grinned.

A shot from a firewand shattered our window. Sapphire ran to the window and looked out.

"I don't think anyone knows we're in here, but it's chaos out on the streets." She informed us. "The Usurpation's started."

Veritas nodded. "I suspected as much. But we're not here to change history. We're here to stop the Well of Udr. In order to do that, we need one of its parts, the only one I couldn't locate anywhere in Creation. The protoscemaic vortex. Whoever takes hold of it can use it to control this entire world."

"That's a pretty tall order for a little hearthstone," Sapphire whistled.

"That's what I was trying to explain before. The protoscemaic vortex isn't a hearthstone." Veritas shook his head heavily. "It's one of the souls of a Primordial that I killed back in the war. _She_ _of the_ _Sorrowful_ _Eyes_." He finished. "Also known as the Weeping Maiden."

"Damnit, Recluse! This is why we shouldn't lie to each other!" Loren informed all of us. "Now everything makes sense!"

I was still confused, but I figured that was mostly because I'd lost a lot of blood and missed a few things.

"Faeslayer's right." Veritas grudgingly admitted. "If I'd known that Quill was the Emissary and that the Dowager's agents were here, I might have put this all together earlier." He sighed heavily. "You all know that the Deathlords were formerly Solars. And I believe that one of my fellow Twilights whom I consulted with on the building of the Well, may now be the Dowager. I could be wrong, but it does seem to fit." Veritas paused. "You see, Tess was a student of the Weeping Maiden when it still seemed as though the Maiden would side with Autochthon and Gaia against the other Primordials in the War. When the Weeping Maiden decided to return to the Wyld, Tess was crushed. After the War ended, she was never the same. It's not difficult to believe that she would have turned against the Unconquered Sun. Tess... sometimes she would call the Weeping Maiden "Mother"."

"The Dowager does seem to have an obsession with that whole... mother-child relationship." I admitted.

"So you think the Dowager wants to set _her_ "Mother" free?" Loren paused.

"It's one theory. Obviously, someone wants the Weeping Maiden released, and if it's not the Dowager, it's either Himitsu and the fae, or Quill. We need to find that protoscemaic vortex before Calibration ends."

"Which is?" I prompted. I didn't know how long I'd been unconscious.

"Sunset tonight." Veritas finished. "We've lost a day. But I believe we can still do this. We're just going to need help."

"Help? Amira's gone and Quill almost killed us! If we can't trust the people we came here with, who can we trust?" I demanded. I immediately regretted sitting up so quickly.

"Ourselves," Veritas replied. "We don't have any other options. We have to get our past selves involved. And we have to tell them _everything_."

"I suppose we shouldn't wast any more time then. I think my firewands are good to go. How's Godchaser coming along?" Sapphire wondered.

"I feel like I have spiders in my insides," Godchaser announced. She was awake.

"That's because you do have spiders in your insides," Veritas replied.

"Oh. Okay then," Godchaser replied. Veritas gathered up his spiders and covered her in a worn brown cloak. "Aw, it's so ugly! Can't I wear something else?" She complained.

"Do you want to be dismantled?" He warned her. "There are people trying to kill us, remember?"

"Ah, that's right! Am I... stealthy?" The construct wondered eagerly.

"Very stealthy," Sapphire nodded.

"Hee!" Godchaser exclaimed.

I stood up and stumbled a little. Loren almost immediately moved to put me back in bed.

"If we've only got until sundown to save Creation. I'm not staying in bed!" I informed him. I still wasn't exactly steady on my feet, but after the promise he'd made to me, I knew Loren wouldn't force me to stay behind. He sighed in defeat.

"All right, but stay close to me! This could get dangerous!" Loren informed me, as if that was something I didn't know.

"Hey. This city has blown its top and right now you guys have all got targets on your heads! Being anywhere near you is dangerous!" I replied.

"Targets?" Sapphire gasped.

"Oh yeah. _Your_ Caste Mark _really_ looks like a target!" I informed her.

"I gotta hand it to you, Roach. These last few days, I was starting to feel a little like a god." Sapphire paused. "But now it's just like we're home again, except instead of everyone screaming "Aaah, Anathema!" they're all organized and chanting "down with the overlords"! Apparently, Quill's little treatise on correct government is really getting around."

"It _was_ pretty damn good. You know, I bet if he hadn't Exalted, the revolutionaries would have crowned him king or something like that." I paused. "Maybe this Caterpillar hellhole would have become a monument?"

Sapphire paused. "I just realized something!" She exclaimed. "Caterpillars turn into Chrysalises! And when they come out, they're butterflies!"

"I've no idea what you're talking about," Loren admitted.

"You don't know about Chrysalis?" Sapphire blinked incredulously. Veritas looked equally surprised. "Well, damn! I thought every Solar knew about Chrysalis! Chrysalis is a secret organization all over Creation which _hides_ Solars. Quill founded it. He doesn't run it any more though. Windswept Rhapsody does. Ask her about it when we get home. She'll explain everything better than I can." Sapphire advised, clapping him on the back.

"So it all started here?" I observed.

" _We_ _'_ re the first _hiding_ Solars!" Sapphire beamed. "The first ones everyone wanted to kill!"

"I don't know it that's something to be proud of," Loren admitted.

"Oh, I'll take what I can get!" Sapphire informed him.

We'd made it down the stairs. The common room of the Caterpillar was empty. Pieces of Not-Yet-Dead Eddie's play were scattered all over the floor. I doubted the playwright had intentionally destroyed his work and wondered momentarily where he'd gone. There were an awful lot of copies of Quill's treatise too. I picked one up, folded it, and put it in my own pocket for safekeeping.

"You know, it _is_ effectively open season on Solars out there right now," Veritas remarked casually, glancing at Loren.

"So? What are you worried about? You've got an army of spiders hiding in your clothes! And Godchaser did kick the crap out of Himitsu all by herself!" I reminded him. "Loren can cut down buildings, Sapphire jumps over them... you're all big damn heroes!"

"I suppose _we_ are," Loren admitted, a nostalgic grin on his face. He looked directly at me as he said that, and so did Sapphire.

"You and Godchaser did save the rest of us," She reminded me.

"I'm a hero!" Godchaser beamed. She swooped off of Veritas's shoulders and nudged me with her face.

"What are you doing?" I wondered uneasily.

"Giving you a hug," She replied. "Because you're a hero too."

"Doesn't a hug usually involves arms?" I asked.

"I _know_!" Godchaser sighed in exasperation. "But my Maker won't build me any! Heroes should have arms, Maker. Big damn arms for big damn hugs!" She informed Veritas.

"Big damn heroes," Veritas echoed. From the way he repeated those words, I suspected that he'd picked a new name for our Circle.

It did have a certain ring to it.

Since Shadowsbane already knew the four of us, and was, as Sapphire professed, the "least crazy" of the Three Circles Society, we decided to find him first. We didn't have to look far. The first huge plume of fire to blacken the sky came from his residence on the waterfront.

The moment we learned that the Usurpation had already struck Vigilant Citadel, Sapphire took off running. With how she leapt from rooftop to rooftop, only Loren and Veritas could actually follow her. I kept my head down and did my best to flow through the rioters and units of Dragonblooded troops that filled the streets, clashing with Solar automatons and loyalists.

With everything I'd seen, it surprised me that everyone _wasn't_ supporting the revolution... but then again, I wasn't giving up on my friends either. Even if they were cursed, I had to believe that the good in them would prove stronger in the end.

Taking the low road and not getting shot at like Loren and Sapphire, who were blowing their cover repeatedly by refusing to stay on the ground, I actually reached the courtyard of Vigilant Citadel at about the same time Veritas did.

Though Sapphire hadn't burned enough Essence to get folks screaming "Kill the Solar!", she still looked awfully majestic as she stood motionless on the wall above our heads. Like White Gold Tower, Vigilant Citadel was a pretty impressive residence, a building that would have been ominous if it hadn't been so _sparkly._ The whole thing was made of spectacular silvery marble and sheets of purple glass, which made the fire that was burning it down from inside look huge and terrifying.

Sapphire didn't move from her perch. It didn't even look like she was breathing. Obviously, she knew she couldn't change anything, but that didn't stop her from wanting to.

That I understood. It wasn't easy watching something so beautiful burn, and I couldn't imagine how much worse it would feel if the place had also been my home.

There were a dozen of Shadowsbane's Dragonblooded street patrol still in the process of killing his servants and the constructs defending his home, and a handful of other people running in and out of the Citadel who were apparently looting everything they could carry. Sapphire slowly climbed down to stand with the rest of us standing in front of the wrought iron gate.

Where we waited, we were fairly well hidden. Of course, we couldn't stay that way.

"We're too late. This wouldn't be happening if Shadowsbane were still here. He's either dead or gone," Sapphire informed us, clenching her fists. She literally had to force herself to turn away from Vigilant Citadel, and the strain showed on her face. "Where to next?"

"Perfect," Veritas decided. "We might have had an easier time getting through to her if we'd had Shadowsbane on our side, but... at least we're not bringing Quill along this time."

"Then the question becomes, where is she?" Loren prompted.

"The manse. Obviously!" Godchaser replied.

"But White Gold Tower's already been ransacked!" Sapphire pointed out. "You saw it, you were there!"

"Pffft! White Gold Tower is the _house_! I said the _manse_!" Godchaser supplied.

"Of course!" Veritas groaned. "I should have known!"

"But isn't your manse days away from here?" I wondered. I'd been inside of the place before, and though I didn't like to admit I was scared in front of Veritas, I was in no hurry to visit his lair again. Among other things, it was loaded with all kinds of homicidal constructs and other nasty traps.

"It is in our time. It wasn't back in the First Age." Veritas admitted, looking up.

All of us did the same.

I could just barely make out a dark spot floating above the clouds. Sapphire gave a low whistle.

"I don't know about you boys, but I'm not jumping up there." She admitted.

Veritas smiled slightly. "I think we'll need another form of transportation."

"Can we steal that?" I suggested, pointing. There was a sleek black airship about three times the size of one of Veritas's warbirds sitting on the lawn only a stone's throw from the burning Citadel. The fire hadn't reached it yet and the hatch was open, as if someone had been preparing to take off.

There were some Dragonbloods gathered around, but none of them seemed to want to go inside.

"Steal _that_? Are you kidding?" Sapphire scoffed. "That's no warbird! That's a _Hidden_ _Sun_ _Class_ _Swift_ _Shrike_! A ship like that is probably rigged to _kill_ anyone who tries to steal it!"

"Oh." I observed.

Sapphire laughed. She produced her hearthstone circlet from inside her clothing and pried the purple gem free. "Which is why it's a good thing I have the hearthstone to control it!"

"We're going to need a distraction." Loren decided. "I think it's better if we avoid fighting as much as possible. We don't know what the effects will be if we kill anyone in the past." He admitted. "One of those looters could be your two-hundred and twenty-seventh great-grandfather!"

I rolled my eyes and Sapphire groaned at his reference to Quill. Neither of us could deny that the Boss had a point.

"I've already explained, I don't think that we are actually in the past." Veritas interrupted. "This is... a parallel creation of some sort as I've already explained, a mobius strip of time. So it shouldn't matter who we kill, actually."

"You're way too smart to say something that stupid," I told him.

Veritas didn't say anything in response to that, but he gave me a look that made it obvious he was thinking. Even Godchaser got very quiet, and all of us considered what to do next. A whole lot of people seemed to be approaching from somewhere just down the hill... from the sound of things, another mob. We waited until they stormed right through the gates in front of us and swarmed the Vigilant Citadel, throwing rocks at the glass. At first, they didn't do any damage at all, but as the heat of the fire within the building continued to build, the glass did begin to crack.

A huge sheet of it came crashing to the ground and the revolutionaries cheered.

"That's how we get in!" Sapphire decided. "Usurpation!" She shouted, putting her fist in the air.

A whole bunch of the looters apparently thought she'd come up with a real good line and started shouting the same thing. I didn't realize until she tied on her shroud cloth that what she'd just probably just done was pull out some kind of nasty mind-control type Charm like I might have expected from Adamant Quill.

I was beginning to believe that Solars only ever came up with one kind of plan, which seemed to consist of them being mistaken for ordinary people just long enough to get into trouble.

Following the unwashed masses and shouting obscenities with the worst of them, we ran right out into the courtyard. I kept on Loren's heels and found myself really wishing that I still had my sword. If we looked suspicious, no one said anything, at least not until we separated from the main mob and started towards the airship.

"Hey, you! That thing's dangerous!" One of the Dragonblooded ordered, seizing Loren by the shoulder. "Stay back!"

When he got a good look at the stranger he'd stopped, he pulled back like he'd been struck by a snake. I didn't have to guess why. According to Amira, Loren looked an awful lot like his previous incarnation, and there wasn't a Dragonblood in First Age Nexus who wouldn't recognize the ubiquitous "Lord Faeslayer" on sight.

Loren took advantage of his moment of distraction, seized his wrist and threw the guy right into his buddies with a whole lot of force. "Go!" He ordered.

I didn't waste a heartbeat. Nobody in Creation gives an order like the Boss.

From inside the Swift Shrike, I watched Veritas and Loren dodging fists and swords as all of the Dragonbloods went for them at once. Sapphire followed me inside, ran straight for the controls and the ship began to rumble.

For a minute, I wasn't sure if it was going to fly or explode. To make matters worse, apparently someone outside had burnt just enough Essence to blow a hole right in our "looters" disguise. There was more incoherent shouting and I saw the Boss pick up one guy and toss him right out of the Swift Shrike, exactly like Viper usually removed drunks from Anathema's.

"The hatch won't close! Help me out, Roach!" Sapphire ordered.

I grabbed onto the thing and just sort of hung there. My whole weight wasn't enough to get it down.

"Out of the way!" Veritas ordered, blazing in. Godchaser was throwing off sparks like crazy.

"Oww! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" She shrieked in distress as he swept her off and laid her down flat on the floor. He invoked one of his Charms, put his hand right on her and the sparking immediately stopped.

The smell of smoke was a little worrying, however.

"Damnit, somebody get that hatch closed!" Sapphire cursed as two exploding shots came dangerously close to her controls. She reached for her own weapon and returned fire without even glancing over her shoulder, not killing the Dragonblood who'd been aiming at her, but taking one of his weapons right out of his hand... and his other hand clean off.

I managed to get myself out of the way just as the Boss came barreling in. With both hands, he reached up and grabbed the hatch, pulling it down like the gargantuan airship door didn't weigh anything at all. The metal made a pretty awful sound and there was still a gap big enough for somebody to fall through... but apparently he'd done enough to get us airborne.

I'd ridden in a warbird before, so I thought that I knew what to expect, but that had been with Veritas at the helm. I realized quickly that Sapphire's flying style was a lot like her personality, rough around the edges, and way too fast. Which was a good thing, because as soon as we were up in the sky, more people started shooting at us.

The revolution had apparently succeeded in securing Nexus's outer walls, which meant that they had a whole lot of implosion bows and lightning ballistas at their disposal. The Swift Shrike was obviously designed to take a hit, but the force of some of the explosions still rattled my teeth and made me cling to the deck for dear life. Sapphire and Veritas had taken the only seats and Loren was standing and basically holding the hatch closed.

We swept up in a dizzying spiral and descended on Perfect's manse.

The factory cathedral had been impressive enough when I'd first laid eyes on it in our time, buried inside of a mountain and left to rot for over 1,500 years. When I could actually see the whole thing in its former glory, hovering hundreds of feet above Nexus and gleaming like a second sun, words wouldn't come to me.

The First Age was full of wonders, and I'd seen a lot of those in the past four days, but nothing nearly as impressive as the floating island below us. Three spiraling towers emerged from a mass of natural stone, iridescent green vines and white blossoming magnolias. They looked like they were made of solid orichalcum and had no visible windows or doors. I couldn't have imagined a more intimidating or effective fortress.

"Sun-in-Glory!" Sapphire swore. "Look at the size of this place! I didn't realize it was so huge! Veritas, how do we get in?"

"There! That's the hatch I fly my warbirds out of!" He decided, pointing at the largest tower. "Get us down there and I'll open it!"

Sapphire nodded, but from the way her knuckles were white on her controls, I gathered that getting in close enough to open a door was easier said than done. The winds were unruly at such a height, and though most of the weapons from the walls of Nexus were falling short of where we hovered, Perfect's manse had begun fighting us like we were intruders.

A black and gold swarm of flying constructs poured out of the dense jungle on the floating island and bolts of blue lightning danced off of the towers themselves. Every time one of them struck the underbelly of our ship, it drained all of the Essence out of Sapphire's controls. She was forced to pull out her hearthstone, jam it in again and try to restart the Swift Shrike three or four times.

She was already glowing a lot, and we still weren't keeping steady.

Veritas leaned all the way out the hatch, focusing on the largest tower with a very scary impression on his face. Loren was holding onto him via Godchaser, who shrieked and clung tighter to her "Maker" as a hundred constructs fired at them simultaneously.

Then another burst of blue lightning hit the Swift Strike.

All of the controls went black and Sapphire flew out of her chair as the front end of the ship exploded. All I could see was smoke and fire, and the dizzying speed of our freefall caused me to lose the breakfast that I didn't remember eating.

The Swift Shrike was going down, and the roof of Perfect's manse still looked a lot like a solid sheet of orichalcum.

"Godchaser, teleport!" Veritas ordered.

"Maker!" Godchaser protested. "It's not fixed! It's not fixed yet! You could die, Maker! You could die!"

"I _know_! Teleport now!" Veritas ordered.

In a burst of Essence, he was gone. I probably would have worried about him if my own demise hadn't seemed immanent, but that was when I lost my grip and went flying out the person-sized gap in the hatch myself.

I thought I was dead, but Sapphire caught my arm, and so I clung to her and prayed.

 _You've_ _got_ _three_ _of_ _your_ _Chosen_ _here!_ I reminded the Unconquered Sun. _C'mon,_ _give_ _us_ _a_ _miracle!_

The ship exploded again and Sapphire suddenly wasn't holding onto anything herself, except for my wrist. Loren had seized her leg at the last possible moment and was trying to reel the both of us back into the ship, which was still going down like a lead brick.

But then I saw something on the roof of Perfect's manse, a burning golden figure in a white cloak that I would have mistaken for the Emissary if the orichalcum he was standing on hadn't been melting into a huge coiling snake of liquid metal. Constructs were exploding everywhere and with a horrific crunch, we stopped falling.

Veritas had caught hold of the Swift Shrike with the torrent of orichalcum that he was shaping, but the absurdly hot magical metal was devouring our ship and he obviously couldn't sustain what he was doing for very long. Uttering a word of command, he used the orichalcum to draw the Shrike down into Perfect's manse like it was a little paper boat tipping over the edge of a waterfall.

I wasn't sure if what he'd done involved Charms or Sorcery. What was pretty obvious to me was that we'd gotten exactly the kind of miracle I'd been praying for.

I don't know if I was conscious when we actually crashed into the manse, taking out both of Perfect's warbirds on our way down, but I came to my senses just quickly enough to realize that some kind of fire-extinguishing construct was spraying me with chemicals.

"Are we dead?" Sapphire coughed.

"I don't think so." I replied. I wanted to say 'no', but I wasn't exactly sure. The beating I'd just sustained had reminded me all too clearly that most of my ribs were still broken.

"That's enough." A very familiar voice ordered. At first I thought it was Loren, but then I realized that he was behind me, still crawling out from underneath the Swift Shrike.

The constructs immediately pulled away from us, and the clouds of chemicals and smoke slowly began to clear. I stared up in awe.

Liquid orichalcum was suspended in midair all around us. Torrents of smoke were billowing off of the surface of it and it looked like it was beginning to crystalize. As I realized what that probably meant, I hit the ground and covered my head.

The droplets all solidified at once and came crashing to the floor. More than a few big pieces of still-hot sheet metal actually did actually hit me, but after surviving the crash of the Swift Strike, I figured I'd survive.

It didn't take a genius to guess who'd kept all of us from being incinerated.

Her Caste Mark blazing, Perfect looked down on all of us. She was on the balcony twenty feet above our heads and obviously furious about the damage that we'd done to the roof of her impenetrable fortress. Essence glittered around her fingertips and for a minute I thought we were about to get killed by the very person we'd come to see. But then Veritas hovered down to stand before the three of us. He removed Godchaser's mask from his face.

The first thing I noticed was that he was wearing the nasty exploding glove that he'd stole from Perfect on our first day down the Well. Perfect noticed it too.

"You again?" Perfect snarled. "Do you thieving Sidereals have a deathwish?"

"We're not Sidereals!" I protested, not that she heard me.

"What is that thing anyway?" Loren demanded, his eyes on Veritas's glove. He looked at me like I had an answer for him, which I didn't.

"It's a Resonance Inducer," Veritas supplied. "It causes any being with Essence to start uncontrollably bleeding it."

"Eeee," Sapphire grimaced. "You're not going to hit Perfect with it, are you?" She whispered, elbowing him. "You do know that if we use Essence, our other selves can feel it. It stands to reason that if anything hurts them, it also hurts us."

"Yes, I know. But she's being completely irrational and we don't have the time for this!" He replied.

"I'm not a Sidereal, you crazy bitch!" Veritas shouted. He charged up the Resonance Inducer until it was glowing white hot and clapped it right down on his own arm. "I'm _you_!"

Perfect gasped in shock, and it quickly got very bright inside her cave. She and Veritas both collapsed simultaneously and started bleeding off torrents of Essence. The effect of the Resonance Inducer proved to be fairly short-lived, however, and after a few minutes of covering my eyes, I found that I could see again.

Both Veritas and Perfect were still glowing. They stared at one another in silence. Brilliant as she was, Perfect must have figured out fairly quickly why her device had reacted as it did. Despite how crazy our story sounded, Perfect nodded slowly, listening to Loren explain everything as Veritas tried to catch his breath and Godchaser gibbered on and on about how amazing her Maker had been up on the roof.

"That's when we found out you moved the Well," Sapphire finished. "But you didn't move it here?"

"Of course I didn't move it here!" Perfect scoffed. She looked more subdued than I'd imagined she was capable of appearing. "There are thousands of experiments in process here, some of which are very delicate! The last thing I need is more lunatics from some parallel Creation getting spit up into my manse every morning!"

"It's more than that, isn't it?" I guessed, noticing an ugly burn on her wrist, clearly fresh. She'd made some attempts to hide it with her gauntlets, but when she wrung her hands, the gauntlets slipped slightly. "There's something wrong with the Well. What?"

"The protoscemaic vortex is bleeding off Wyld energy," Perfect admitted. "Uncontrollably, and at a rate where it could overtake a substantial part of Nexus"

"It's in Firewander!" Sapphire exclaimed. "You hid it somewhere in the Firewander District!"

"How did you know that?" Perfect eyed her suspiciously.

"Now, Perfect. You know exactly why we're here and you know that we're not Sidereals. You have to help us. I need to know something before we go any further, something that I knew when I was you but I can't remember now. What is the Well? From our side, we see your world. And from your side, you see our world." Veritas paused. "But it's not a window, is it? And it's not the past."

"No, it's not," Perfect replied. "And I'm not really myself... that is to say, I'm not _you_. I'm not even alive. None of us are. We're dreams of the First Age. Memories. Ghosts of Essence trapped in a mobius strip of time. You make us more complete, by being here. I knew for certain that when you shot me with my Resonance Inducer," Perfect sighed heavily. "The Well was originally a reality engine that would allow us to experiment with creating entire worlds. But I underestimated the power of the protoscemaic vortex, and the Weeping Maiden's ability to work from inside her prison. I'm afraid that if she's removed from the Well now... it may explode. And it will do worse than destroy this world. It could tear a massive gaping hole in the fabric of the true Creation."

I absorbed everything she'd said very slowly.

"So where did you put the vortex?" Loren asked.

"Where do you think I put it? Something like that needs to be watched _constantly_ by someone whose judgment is perfect!" She replied.

"But not you, Perfect?" Veritas prompted.

"I'm _not_ perfect. I'm only a tool. A very, very good tool... but a tool nonetheless." Perfect smiled slightly.

That was when I understood. "I know where the Well is!" I exclaimed. "It's in the Temple of the Unconquered Sun!"

Perfect didn't actually say that I was right, but I knew that I was. "You know, you remind me of someone," she remarked.

"I hope it's someone you like," I replied, pointing at the destroyed roof and the melted slag of the three airships that we were standing in the middle of. "Because you are terrifying _!_ "

Obviously pleased with my description, both Perfect and Veritas gave me the exact same smirk.

"All right," Sapphire paused. "Now that we've come this far, we've got to get right back where we started. And those streets are a lot worse now then they were this morning." She admitted uneasily.

"It also doesn't help that you and Veritas have got your targets on," I added.

"Targets?" Perfect stared at me in disbelief. I feigned an innocent expression. From her reaction, I guessed that it wasn't convincing at all. She surveyed the mess that we'd made of her manse. "Well, I would suggest that you take one of my warbirds, but it appears that you've destroyed them both. It's going to take forever to fix them."

"Not forever. But about 1,500 years," Veritas nodded.

"I can teleport!" Godchaser volunteered. "My Maker fixed me!" She announced proudly.

"I don't think so, Godchaser. You shouldn't try to carry us all at once," Veritas didn't seem convinced.

"Why not?" Sapphire demanded. "Because we could end up in the river?"

"Because we could end up scattered into bits of Essence!" Veritas informed her.

Loren sighed heavily. He cleared some of the orichalcum scrap out of the way with his foot and started doing something I'd previously associated only with Veritas.

He was working sorcery! Testing the wind with one finger, he gave a sharp whistle, like one of my Murqai cousins might if they were calling for a horse or a hunting bird. A _cloud_ descended from the sky and hovered to a stop directly in front of him.

Both Veritas and Sapphire stared at the cloud in disbelief, but I couldn't tell if that was because they didn't know what it was or because they didn't know how to react to the Boss actually casting a spell. His Caste Mark flickered.

"This," Loren explained. "Is a Cirrus Skiff."

Sapphire and Veritas glanced to one another doubtfully.

"I bet neither of you have ever ridden on a cloud before," I smiled slightly, putting my arms around both of them. "Let me tell you something! It's _really_ fun!" It was the best Amira impression I could muster under the circumstances and clearly Loren recognized who I was attempting to imitate. He smiled slightly.

"I thought you _hated_ these things?" Loren whispered as Sapphire warily hopped aboard his cloud. Veritas followed her. Godchaser giggled, and Perfect smiled slightly as if she were watching a familiar play.

"If I tell them it's like getting rolled up in a carpet and beaten with a stick, they're going to waste time coming up with a better plan!" I informed him with a wink. "And right now, we've got to save Creation!"


	34. Chapter 33 - The Last Day (Roach)

**Chapter 33**

 **The Last Day of Calibration**

Slightly singed and breathless, we landed in front of the Temple of the Unconquered Sun. Veritas and Sapphire were blazing even more brightly than before. While Loren directed his Cirrus Skiff, the two of them had fired everything they could at anyone who has shooting at us, taking out four ballista, a dozen implosion bows and even a warbird.

By the time we made it to our destination, the sun was beginning to sink low in the sky and the looting and rioting was even worse than it had been when we'd stolen Shadowsbane's Shrike. Still, all of the revolutionaries seemed to be giving the Temple of the Unconquered Sun an unusually wide berth. Loren dismissed his cloud and Veritas squinted.

"We've just stepped into some kind of spell," he observed. "I don't think anyone on the streets can see us."

"Well, that's handy," Sapphire remarked.

"Not necessarily," Veritas shook his head heavily. "That means we're expected."

"Another Sidereal trap?" Loren snorted.

"No," A voice interrupted. "It's my doing."

When I realized who'd spoken, I couldn't help but stare.

On the steps of the Temple stood a Solar. The word "man" didn't even occur to me as I saw him. He looked as out of place in Creation as one of the Incarnae might have, like a god come down from the Heavens. The Illuminated that my mother had described to me when I was a child had been similarly intimidating in my imagination, so beautiful that you couldn't look directly at them and so unbelievably powerful that they made you feel small in their presence.

This Solar was like that. Shadowsbane had been impressive. Perfect had been terrifying.

The Faeslayer was _awe_ -inspiring.

He was dressed in full orichalcum plate armor with a spectacular, radiant sun on his breastplate, a crown on his head and his daiklave resting comfortably over his shoulder, just as Loren always carried his weapon when he wasn't pretending not to be an Exalt.

The Faeslayer surveyed the four of us with a slight smile. Loren clearly recognized his previous incarnation, not that anyone could have failed to notice the similarity between the two of them. Although the Faeslayer was much older, they looked more alike than most brothers did.

Sapphire jumped, and Veritas winced as several floors of the Monolith Hotel suddenly exploded.

"A minor... insurrection," the Faeslayer remarked casually as another building across the street from us came crashing down. "You'll be safe here. I have everything under control." He informed us.

I didn't see anything 'minor' about what was going on and wondered a little about the Faeslayer's definition of "control", but I didn't try to correct him. I decided it was probably best if Loren did all of the talking, and clearly Sapphire and Veritas agreed with me.

"You think so," Loren paused. "You think that it's just a little purge, to get rid of some of the older Solars you know who've completely lost their wits. But it's more than that. _All_ _of_ _us_ are cursed!" Loren explained. "And I don't think I need to tell you that there are forces which want us destroyed, permanently. For 1,500 years starting today, there aren't going to be any Solars. The trouble is, the world _isn't_ better without Solars in it. It's just as dangerous as it has ever been and it's getting worse. And we know that because we've come from the future."

"Sort of," I interrupted, before I realized that maybe it was smarter for me not to say anything at all. "Well, we know this isn't really the past, it's... inside the Well of Udr." I finished.

That got the Faeslayer's attention. "How do you know about the Well of Udr? Who are you?" He demanded, obviously sensing something strange afoot.

"I think you know the answer to that," Loren replied. The Faeslayer looked surprised as their eyes met. Loren's caste mark began to glow, and as he expended that small amount of Essence, The Faeslayer's did the same. Just as Veritas had used the Resonance Inducer to hurt Perfect, anything that Loren did with Essence was obviously felt by the Faeslayer. The two of them stared at one another for a long while in silence, and then the Faeslayer smiled.

"So this is the end, is it?" He finished, sounding unbelievably calm. "Today is the day I die."

"How did you know?" Sapphire wondered.

"I saw it in the Well. But I didn't believe what I was seeing," the Faeslayer admitted.

"But now you know I'm telling the truth," Loren replied.

"I know," he nodded.

"Aren't you afraid of dying?" I asked. It seemed like an important question.

"After as long as I've lived?" The Faeslayer scoffed. "To tell the truth, yes, I was afraid. I was afraid when I believed that this prison that the Sidereals have forged for us would prove to be truly inescapable. But now that I know it is not…" He paused. "I am resigned."

"You're giving up? They're going to destroy all of this!" Loren gestured to the beautiful city, stretching as far as I could see.

"Then _you_ must bring it all back! Perfect and I built this city from _nothing_! We fought monsters to the likes of which you cannot even imagine! Abhorrence of Life, the Weeping Maiden, She-Who-Lives-in-Her-Name! And yet you and your companions intuitively understand human nature in a way that we could never hope to. It may sound mad to say this, but the four of you have done more in the last five months than I have done in fifteen-hundred years. Perhaps you will be the ones to break the Great Curse," the Faeslayer smiled. "And when our world is finally restored, it will _never_ fall like this again."

"We'll do our best. But there is one more thing you should know," Loren paused. "The Sidereals have Amira. And as soon as they get their hands on Perfect's protoscemaic vortex, they're going to kill her."

The Faeslayer nodded. His face was completely serene except for the smallest spark of fire in his eyes when Loren spoke Amira's name. From the way the two of them stared at one another, it was obvious that neither would be swayed from that singular purpose. "So it's going to come down to a fight then, is it? You'll be needing armor," the Faeslayer announced. "And a daiklave."

The Faeslayer stepped forward slowly and took both of Loren's hands in his own. The two of them bowed their heads and I wished momentarily that I could have heard what passed between them, because it seemed like something epic, the kind of dramatic closing line that "Not-Yet-Dead" Eddie would have probably killed himself for.

For the first time in a long time, I actually heard Loren laugh. The Faeslayer passed him his daiklave, and as Loren took the weapon, he also did something else I'd never seen him do. Essence flared all around him and he was suddenly dressed in a suit of full orichalcum plate, the same spectacular armor that the Faeslayer had been wearing only moments before.

Without his armor, the Faeslayer appeared surprisingly ordinary. He gave us a slight salute and turned to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Loren wondered uneasily.

"I've passed the torch to you. It's time for me to face my Fate," the Faeslayer replied without hesitation. "Now go make yours."

I watched the Faeslayer walk down the broad golden promenade until he disappeared somewhere near the horizon. Though I knew that the old Solar was going out to die, I almost expected him to just melt back into the light of the Unconquered Sun, form and shadow reunited.

"I like that guy," I informed Loren.

"So do I," he smiled slightly. I wanted to give him a cuff on the shoulder for a line like that, but I reminded myself that punching orichalcum was never a good idea.

Sapphire slowly walked up the stairs of the temple. She gazed up at the main doors with her hands on her hips for a moment and then rolled up her sleeves, drawing both of her firewands. Veritas called for his lightning spear and not for the first time, I cursed at the fact that I still didn't have a damned weapon.

Of course, that wasn't going to stop me from going in too.

The doors creaked open as I pushed them and a horrific smell caused me to cover my nose and mouth. Sapphire cursed incoherently. The entry hall of the Temple was filled with mutilated bodies and pools of blood that were black with flies.

"Oh! Oh, how barbaric! Who did this?" Godchaser gasped.

Veritas said nothing. He studied the room with a critical eye and tightened his grip on his lightning spear.

"You don't think..." Sapphire began. She didn't actually propose that the Faeslayer might have been responsible... but that was only because she didn't get a chance.

"Maker!" Godchaser cried.

A black steel blade attached to a long chain struck the wall near Veritas's head, crumbling marble. Sapphire fired a volley of Essence rounds into the shadows and Loren deftly parried a second chain as it came flying at him.

The Shoat of the Mire yelped as he seized hold of it and used it to pull her out of her hiding place. She responded by firing all of her other chains at once... and one of them almost gored me. Loren released the little Deathknight to dodge her whirling blades, but the damage had already been done. The rest of us had seen where she was hiding.

"You again!" Loren frowned. "What do you want this time?"

"I _want_ you to listen, which you never do," the Shoat replied.

Loren scowled at her. I hadn't guessed that the Deathknight and her horrible "Mother" had been whispering to him and trying to get inside his head, just as they did to me.

"You're still alive too?" The Shoat observed, looking right at me. I didn't like that at all. Compared to my three Essence-bleeding super-friends, I should have been completely invisible. "Mother is very upset, _Abadiyah._ You were quite rude to her."

"What did she just called you?" Sapphire wondered.

" _Abadiyah_. It's my name. Did you honestly think my mother called me 'Cockroach'?" I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, my mother calls me worse!" She informed me. We stood at an arm's length from one another, watching the Shoat, who seemed to be waiting for Loren to make a move.

Or... no! She _knew_ that we weren't alone! She was trying to distract us!

"Loren!" Amira shouted. She was standing about ten feet away, at the end of a corridor which split in two directions. She looked like she hadn't slept in days and her hands were shackled behind her back.

When she saw Loren she immediately tried to shape-change, obviously intending to fight her way free. The black manacles she wore flared with emerald Essence that raced through her veins like some kind of exotic venom. Blood dripped from her wrists as the manacles suddenly tightened and she cried out in pain.

"Don't, Loren!" Amira ordered, biting back tears. "They want you to come after me!"

I didn't have to ask who. Sick as it was, the scary artifact that Amira was bound with probably shouldn't have surprised any of us, considering that she was currently standing between the Red Queen and Himitsu.

"Himitsu!" Veritas glared. "I should have known you were responsible for this!"

"Well, I suppose it's nice to know that all of our enemies are on the same side," I replied.

Amira struggled as the Red Queen loomed over her in a predatory fashion and her manacles tightened again. More of her blood stained the white marble floor.

"Amira!" Loren immediately dropped his guard and the Shoat almost took his head off with one of her chains. Still, Sapphire was faster than the Deathknight had anticipated. She threw her dagger and caught the chain in mid-strike, pinning it to the wall. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the second Deathknight, the one called "Sister".

The Shoat barked out an incoherent order to her, and she took immediately took off running.

Loren hesitated.

"Don't worry about me, Loren!" Amira shouted. "Stop that Deathknight!"

As if taunting Loren to follow her, the Red Queen tightened her grip on Amira and began dragging her in the opposite direction. Like a little lost sheep, Loren stood frozen at the end of the hall. His eyes darted back and forth and finally he bolted after Sister, as Amira had told him to.

"Loren!" Sapphire shouted. Obviously she'd sensed the same uncertainty lingering around him that I had, and it worried her too. "Damnit, if he breaks again, we're all dead! This can't get any worse!"

"Don't say that!" Veritas warned. "We haven't run into either Quill yet!"

"And I'm not finished with you!" The Shoat interrupted, firing her chains at both of them.

Veritas leapt four feet in the air. Godchaser kept him hovering for an extra minute and started throwing off sparks, not because she was broken but apparently because she'd discovered that doing so made her look absolutely terrifying. Sapphire took the opportunity to charge after the startled Deathknight, running up the walls and across the ceiling.

The two seemed to be evenly matched and I figured that even if she couldn't gut the little Deathknight, Sapphire could still hold her off long enough for Loren to catch Sister and find Perfect's protoscemaic vortex.

That is, if he hadn't stumbled into another trap already.

"I'm going after Amira!" Veritas informed me.

"Not without me you're not!" I shot back.

"All right, boys! Go get em'! I got this one!" Sapphire winked. She fired another shot at the Shoat.

I stayed right on Veritas's heels, not that there was anything else I could do. If any of the people the Shoat had slaughtered in the entry of the Temple had been armed at all, there was nothing left of their weapons. When the two of us came to the end of the corridor that the Red Queen had taken Amira down, the only thing that I'd found that I could conceivably use to defend myself was a broom.

Of course, when Veritas threw open the doors of the Temple courtyard, Himitsu immediately sheared my makeshift weapon in half.

"Oh come on! Seriously?" I demanded, glancing up in the direction of the sun. Not waiting for the Sidereal to come in for a second attack with his deadly fans, I pitched the two sections of my broom handle at Himitsu... and somehow managed conk him in the head _twice_.

He swore and stared at me in disbelief. I had to admit, the odds of pulling off something like that did seem fairly steep.

Amira seemed surprised to see the two of us coming to her rescue.

"Get back, Roach!" Veritas warned me.

"You're not fighting those two on your own!" I protested.

"I'm not going to have to," Veritas smiled slightly and made a gesture that I'd started to recognize as the first part of his metal melting Charm. The chains that the two had bound Amira with literally oozed off of her wrists. They re-solidified as they hit the ground into a pile of slag.

The Red Queen gasped as Amira began to change, quicker than I'd ever seen any Lunar do such a thing before. Before Himitsu could recover his fans, the whole courtyard was overshadowed by the biggest, meanest looking wolf ever to set foot in Creation. Easily fifteen feet tall at the shoulder with a bristling mane of sharp moonsilver spines, Amira gave the Sidereals a toothy grin.

"Give me _one_ good reason not to eat you!" She snarled.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Veritas begin shaping some sorcery.

I didn't waste another minute. Hopefully, Amira and Veritas could hold off the Red Queen and Himitsu. Loren was still somewhere ahead of us, and I had a good guess as to where. I ran as fast as I could across the courtyard and up the stairs.

Throwing open the doors of the main sanctuary, I stared up in awe at Sapphire's "big guy". In the glittering First Age, the massive statue of the Unconquered Sun looked even more impressive than he had in the ruins that I'd seen. A massive explosion rocked the whole temple. Either Veritas had finished shaping his spell, or one of the two Quills had finally shown up. I was hoping for the former, but betting on the latter.

In the center of the sanctuary, Loren stood two feet away from Sister, who looked even more like a hag than usual. Both of them were bleeding Essence. Loren was surrounded in a very impressive corona of gold and Sister was literally _bleeding_. The flowers and fresh fruit which had been left at the foot of the God wilted and rotted when she passed near them. I grimaced as I realized that Loren had suffered some sort of black necromantic burn to his arm.

He deftly parried Sister's flurry of attacks, but then his wound got the better of him and he stumbled, losing his daiklave.

"Loren!" I shouted before I realized that it wasn't a very good idea to draw attention to myself. Sister hammered Loren with her mace. He caught her blow on his right forearm and for a minute I thought that Sister had made a real mistake until the orichalcum plate armor Loren was wearing began to crack. He staggered, and she pounded him again – square on the back.

Loren collapsed. There was so much blood I thought that he was already dead… but if there was a chance in all Creation that I could save him, I was going to take it.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Loren's daiklave. It was about ten feet away from him, close enough that I could make a run for it while Sister's back was turned. But even if I did get to the thing, I knew there was no way that I could wield it. The way Loren swung the blade around, made it look like it weighed nothing… but orichalcum is impossibly heavy from an un-Exalted perspective.

And so I did the only thing I could do. I prayed, and dove for it anyway.

 _C'mon,_ _do_ _something!_ I begged the Unconquered Sun. _We're_ _in_ _your_ _temple,_ _damnit!_

I didn't wait for a response. As I'd told Himitsu, I made my own Fate. And I'd learned from experience that the God helped those who helped themselves. Something was going to happen, I was sure of it! All I had to do was get into the right place to make it work out.

I ran and slid across the marble floor, my fingertips coming into contact with the hilt of Loren's daiklave just as the Deathknight looked up. She was on me in a heartbeat. I couldn't even follow her movement with my eyes and didn't even know where she was about to strike from until her mace was suddenly frozen about six inches from my head.

Against all odds, I'd actually stopped her! Somehow, I was holding Loren's asinine orichalcum blade as if it were my own familiar weapon. The force of the Deathknight's blow had dropped me to my knees but my arm remained steady in one of the first guards that Loren had taught me when I became his student.

The Deathknight faltered. She stared at me in horror, and I took advantage of the opening that presented itself, running her through with one swift motion. She collapsed in a pool of black blood - _dead_ , it seemed… and hopefully permanently.

"Heh. Thanks," I glanced up at the statue of the Unconquered Sun, still beaming down on us. As odd as it seemed in the temple of a God you were supposed to take seriously, I felt that the craftsman who'd carved that goofy smile was onto something. "It's okay if you don't say "you're welcome"." I said aloud. "I know you never listen."

I slowly walked towards Loren, still lugging his sword. Whatever force of will had made it light enough for me to wield obviously wasn't permanent, but I could still carry it without any trouble. Strangely enough, as I made my way up the altar stairs, I began to feel _better_. Not just healed from my wounds, but better than I'd ever felt before in my life.

" _I_ _never_ _listen_?" A voice laughed. It was rich and warm and distinctly familiar to me, though the time I remembered it from seemed very long ago. " _Do_ _you_ _have_ _any_ _idea_ _how_ _long_ _I've_ _been_ _trying_ _to_ _reach_ _you?"_

I looked up. What had been a statue only moments ago was alive, a huge, imposing four-armed man dressed in orichalcum armor. A circlet of light that looked like a crown surrounded his head. As impossible as it seemed… I was actually _standing_ in the presence of the Unconquered Sun.

I should have gotten on my knees right away, but I didn't. I stood using Loren's daiklave like a cane and stared up, squinting. "Oh. Hey there," I said. No other words would come to me.

The Unconquered Sun smiled, a good-natured, warm and fuzzy sort of expression on his face. When he looked at me, I felt like I'd done something unexpected and dangerous that was going to earn me a mild scolding followed by a hug.

"That's all you can say? Come now, we know each other very well, Roach! You never stop talking to me!" The Unconquered Sun laughed. "All this time you've matching pace with some of my very best Chosen, not to mention one of Luna's favorites! Did it ever occur to you that I did not come to your aid because you did not _need_ my help?" He reached down and actually put his huge hand on my shoulder. In a ripple of light, his whole body condensed. He still looked the same, but he was only a little taller than an ordinary man.

Not that _anyone_ could have mistaken the Unconquered Sun for ordinary. If I'd thought the Faeslayer was godlike when I met him, it was only because I didn't have any comprehension of just how impressive one of the Incarnae could actually be. Part of me had always believed, of course. But believing and actually _seeing_ were two very different things.

The Unconquered Sun tousled my hair. "If only you could see yourself as I see you, Abadiyah! Resilient, like your namesake. Stubborn as a bull. But with the _heart_ of _gold!_ "

He paused. "There are difficult times ahead. Your whole life has been hard, I'll grant you that… but it's going to get even harder." I couldn't bring myself to say anything in response. I was still trying to reconcile the fact that the Unconquered Sun had actually _touched_ _me_ and messed up my hair when he did something even more unexpected.

He reached out and put his thumb right between my eyes. It must have looked strange. The way it felt was even stranger.

"You do understand, of course, that I'm going to expect more from you now!" He informed me.

I was more afraid in that moment than I'd ever been in my life. From Loren, Veritas and Sapphire I had heard that Exaltation was something they had never even imagined, something that they'd fallen into without really understanding what it meant.

But I knew. I'd seen firsthand how troubled and complex their lives were, how they lived torn between the past and the future that they were forging, day by day. They were terrifying and awe-inspiring, so much so that I'd begun to understand why no one could decide whether they were demons or Gods. But I knew the truth. I knew that they were simply good people given powers beyond imagination and charged with nothing less than saving Creation _every_ _single_ _day_. Actually being able to comprehend such an enormous responsibility gave me a headache that I suspected was never going to go away.

"I _can't,_ " I whispered. I knew I sounded like Loren, and that realization made me smile slightly.

"You _can,_ " the Unconquered Sun replied. "And you _will_."

Light filled the temple, exploding outward in all directions from the Unconquered Sun. When I finally dared open my eyes again, the statue was back in its place and the god was gone. For the briefest of moments, I thought I'd hallucinated everything… but then I saw my reflection in the marble floor.

More times than I wanted to admit, I'd considered what I would say if I _knew_ that the Unconquered Sun was actually listening to me. I'd toyed with what I would do if I could borrow the smallest fraction of Loren's strength, Veritas's brains, or Sapphire's sneakiness. When I'd first sensed my friends using Essence in the attic room of the Caterpillar, I'd thought that I understood what it felt like to _be_ one of them.

I'd had _no_ _idea!_ After a few moments, I took a deep breath. Let me tell you, they call it "The Second Breath" for a reason. It _is_ like being born again.

That's when I remembered Loren. I ran over to him and tried to gauge where he was wounded, and if I should even try to move him. "Loren? C'mon now, don't be dead!"

Loren coughed. He was obviously weak from the beating he'd taken, but he was already sitting up.

"Roach?" He blinked a few times. Obviously there was too much sweat and blood in his eyes for him to see. The first thing his gaze came to rest on was his daiklave, which I still carried. "My daiklave?"

"I got it," I replied. "I got the Deathknight too."

He only shook his head, seeming to remember parts of what had happened… and then saw Sister's corpse lying some feet away.

"How…" He trailed off into silence as he looked up and actually _saw_ me.

I scratched my head and tried to fix my hair a little, but it insisted on sticking straight up, as if I'd been struck by lightning. Considering what the Unconquered Sun had done, I kinda expected that it was never going to lie completely flat ever again.

Of course, Loren wasn't looking at my hair.

He immediately leapt to his feet and wrapped me in a big, rough bear hug. Though I was glad to see that my buddy wasn't dead or dying, being hugged by someone dressed in superheavy orichalcum plate who _really_ doesn't know his own strength isn't so great when you're covered in cuts and bruises.

"Um… we're both still bleeding, ok?" I winced, pulling away from him a little.

The two of us slowly sat down on the stairs, side by side.

Loren still didn't say anything, but he had the biggest, stupidest grin I'd ever seen stuck on his face. He looked like a kid staring up at the Calibration sky.

"Stop looking at me like that! You're freaking me out!" I scolded him.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it!" He laughed. "I don't know what to say! You..."

The words obviously wouldn't come to him, but they all came to me.

 _Chosen._ _Exalted._ _Solar._

I didn't finish his sentence. I just smiled right back at Loren, probably looking as dopey as he did. "I'm... all right, I guess. Although my ribs are still broken."

"Ouch. Probably shouldn't have hugged you then," he apologized.

"Don't worry about it. I'll heal," I shrugged. When I considered my injuries, a strange sounding word in Old Realm stuck in my head. I realized slowly that it was part of a Charm. Something I'd always known? It seemed that way. Seeing me staring off into space, Loren punched me hard in the shoulder.

"You will. Quickly too. _Solars_ are good at that sort of thing!" He teased.

"Ow!" I protested.

"You do know what this means, don't you?" Loren pressed.

"You're going to stop harassing me about Viper?" I suggested hopefully.

"Training!" He beamed.

"Oh no!" I laughed. It hurt, but the pain reminded me that I was still alive, so it was kind of a blessing.

"Oh yes! You've got _a_ _lot_ to learn and I'd love to have someone to practice with!" Loren declared. "Someone who doesn't _cheat_ and change shape and…"

"Try to take all of your clothes off?" I suggested, elbowing him in the side of the head where his armor couldn't protect him.

"Ouch!" He exclaimed. "What was that for?"

" _Revenge!_ " I smirked.

That was when Amira arrived.

"Loren!" Amira shouted. She was still wearing her _very_ intimidating war form, but when she saw no signs of a struggle, she resumed her usual appearance. Amira gingerly stepped over Sister's dusty corpse and searched the room warily. "Did I miss something?" She wondered.

"Nothing too important," I laughed, enjoying the absolutely dumbfounded expression on her face as she saw Loren and myself sitting in the Unconquered Sun's shadow.

More footsteps thundered down the hall. It was Veritas, followed by Sapphire. They didn't actually see what had happened, because the minute they came blazing in, so did Quill. He was dressed in his white "Emissary" attire but there was no telling what he'd done with his mask and his cloak was torn to shreds.

We were all on him right away.

I put Loren's daiklave right in his face, but Quill didn't seem to notice me. Of course, that might have been because his eyes were already darting between Sapphire who had one of her firewands pressed up against the back of his head and Godchaser, who'd disentangled herself from her Maker and was currently sparking furiously and spitting out a slew of Old Realm curses.

Quill held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm sorry I tried to kill you! I promise, I can explain!"

"He's telling the truth!" Loren informed us.

Quill grimaced as he pushed away Veritas's lightning spear.

"Start talking!" Veritas informed him.

"Stupid!" Amira whapped Quill very hard across the back of the head with her "stupid stick".

He didn't fall, but from the way he stumbled, I was pretty sure he saw stars.

"And if we do decide _not_ to kill you, that does _not_ mean you're forgiven!" I added.

That was when both Sapphire and Veritas realized that Loren was standing ten feet away, and it was _me_ who had his daiklave pointed at Quill.

"Roach?" Sapphire gasped. "You... _target_?"

I rolled my eyes and wrinkled my nose. Obviously, I couldn't actually _see_ my Caste Mark, but I could feel it burning still. It wasn't an uncomfortable thing, but it was definitely going to take some getting used to.

"You don't think it's funny any more?" Veritas observed with a smirk.

"It was funnier when I didn't have one on _my_ head!" I informed him.

Quill grinned like a madman. Though I still didn't trust him any further than I could throw him, I figured it was worth hearing him out. There were a lot of things that still didn't add up, and if he'd known about the Great Curse before any of us, that would explain why he'd felt compelled to take out Loren. I'd survived getting shot with the lightning spear myself, and as Veritas had professed when Loren and I first met him, taking out a Dawn Caste was no mean feat. Even if Quill had intended to kill Loren, he probably would have needed to shoot him twice... with a much more powerful weapon.

Despite the fact that the sun was setting, the five of us together made the Temple as bright as midday. And it occurred to me that I was witnessing _exactly_ what the Unconquered Sun must have wanted all along.

"You _knew_ that this was going to happen?" I turned to Quill. "You knew from the beginning!"

"Fate is... rather predictable." Quill informed me. "At least it seems that way to me. I understand inherently how it works. Sometimes I think I should have been a Sidereal."

"And that is _exactly_ why we all hate you, do you understand?" Veritas sighed. But when he glanced in my direction, I saw that he couldn't find anything else to say. Regardless of whether he wanted to forgive Quill or not, it's somewhat difficult to hold a grudge against someone who's just successfully manipulated you into saving the world.

I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

 _You_ _did_ _good._ I told the Unconquered Sun. He didn't say anything... but that was all right by me. I knew he was listening.

"So what now?" Amira asked.

Loren sighed heavily and went up to the altar. He put his hands on it as he did so, the marble slab split open, revealing the heart of the Well. The device looked even stranger and more malevolent than it had when I'd first laid eyes on the it, its heart pulsing with the unstable power of the protoscemaic vortex.

"Now we end this." Loren replied, reaching for the vortex.

"No!" Quill shouted. His face was suddenly contorted into a mask of fear.

Loren didn't seem to hear him at all. He seized the ball of writhing Wyld energy with one hand and wretched it free. It flickered for a moment in his grasp and then its ever-shifting surface faded to black. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. We thought that we were saved.

But then reality exploded.


	35. Chapter 34 - Weeping Maiden (Loren)

**Chapter 34**

 **The** **Weeping** **Maiden's** **Gift**

When I set my hand upon the vortex, I knew I'd made a mistake. I distinctly heard the sound of manic fae laughter which sent chills racing down my spine. Whatever was inside the iridescent shell was not only powerful, it was undoubtedly sentient.

But even if it was capable of understanding that I'd unwittingly set it free, it didn't bother to explain itself. It simply rippled away from me and shot into Elsewhere, still giggling at my ineptitude.

The next thing I knew, I was back in the room with the Well. White Gold Tower was in ruins, which led me to believe that I'd been transported back to the present. Everyone should have been there, but for some reason I was standing alone.

Or at least I thought I was alone.

Like a figure from one of my dreams of the First Age, the Emissary of Nexus slipped out of the shadows. He motioned for me to give him the vortex, which sat in my hand like a lead weight – cold and lifeless.

I didn't resist. Something just told me that I should hand it to him, and so I did. Once the vortex was in his hands, he dropped the hood of his cloak and slowly took off his mask.

"Quill?" I blinked in surprise. Perhaps I wasn't as surprised as I could have been, but nevertheless… "You're the Emissary?" As I spoke those words, I realized that I'd already known the answer to my question. Of course, meddling with the fundamental fabric of reality will give you a headache like nothing else in all Creation – and make you doubt a lot of things, least of all what you've dreamt up and what has actually happened.

Quill nodded. "You knew that already."

"Where is everyone?" I demanded.

"That's the complicated part. When you took the vortex out of Perfect's reality engine, you released all of the energy that it held. Wyld energy, that is. But the Wyld isn't inherently destructive. It also _creates,_ " Quill explained. "And you probably already knew this, but this little black rock was given to Perfect at the same time that the Unconquered Sun gave you your daiklave. A souvenir of the Primordial War, as it were." He paused. "Have you ever been to a hunting lodge with horns and stuffed heads all over the walls?"

I nodded, though I'd never really liked that manner of décor. Then I realized what Quill was dancing around. "That thing really has part of a Primordial inside of it?" I stared at him in disbelief.

Belatedly, I realized that I had already known that as well. What was wrong with my memory? All I could think was that I had a _terrible_ _headache_ , as my Circlemate might say. But what was her name? Or no, _his_ name?

"Primordials have more than one soul. And each of those souls is capable of acting independently, as if it were a complete being itself. You already know that the Loom of Fate was constructed out of a Primordial. As was the entirety of Malfeas." Quill casually rolled the dead vortex over in his palm. "This little trinket formerly held one of the souls of a Primordial that you know as the Weeping Maiden. She was _very_ pleased that it was you who freed her. Or at least that's how Himitsu explained it."

"Himitsu?" I had only met the Sidereal briefly, but the fact that Veritas, Rhapsody and Clever Devil all seemed to hate him made me very suspicious of his intentions. I also seemed to remember that he'd tried to kill me at least once.

"He's my pet Sidereal," Quill replied.

"Your _pet_?" I echoed incredulously.

"Oh, I'm sure Himitsu thinks the situation is completely reversed," Quill informed me.

"So it was you helping him? You were behind all of this?" I demanded.

"A necessary deception. I knew you would never agree to help free the Weeping Maiden," Quill replied.

"The Weeping Maiden is a monster," I reminded him.

"That actually depends on your definition of monster," Quill shrugged.

"You know what I mean," I scowled.

Quill sighed melodramatically. "You're not looking at the bigger picture." He informed me. "The Well is destroyed, one of the Dowager's henchmen is dead, and the Weeping Maiden left all of us a nice little parting gift." Quill paused. "Put simply, she gave Perfect's reality engine enough power to restore Nexus to normality, to the condition it was in before the Wyld started consuming Firewander. The trouble is, _you_ were the one who took the vortex. And because of the memories that you have, the reality engine couldn't decide if you were part of the world inside the Well... or part of the real Creation."

"What?" I felt a cold, sick pull in the pit of my stomach.

"It ultimately decided that you weren't real, and terraformed Nexus without any evidence of your existence. Naturally, Sidereals were sent in to modify the memories of anyone who might have asked where you went. Which means right now, very few people know that _you_ exist. A Solar's fondest wish," Quill replied.

"How do _you_ know?" I demanded.

"As a sorcerer of the Adamant Circle, I'm rather resilient to... unnatural mental influence." Quill smirked. "And also, I believe I've mentioned that I have a pet Sidereal!" He added.

"And you knew all of this from the beginning? I'm never going to believe anything you say again," I remarked.

"That's probably wise," Quill replied.

"You're not sorry?" I demanded.

"For deceiving you? Please! I'm deceiving you even now, Faeslayer. You've no proof at all that I'm really fifteen-hundred years old! You've no way of knowing how I survived the Usurpation, if I did at all. I might have manufactured the earthquakes caused by the Well and purposefully helped to spread the Wyld outside of Firewander solely so that you would free the Weeping Maiden."

I shot him a black look and he bowed dramatically.

"All you really know is that right now, I like you a little bit and I don't particularly want you to die," Quill finished.

"I understand that, but I'm not going to forgive you for risking so many lives. What have you done with Amira?" I demanded.

"Nothing! Right now, Amira doesn't even remember meeting you, Loren," Quill shook his head. "That's why I wanted to get my hands on the Vortex first. My Mate has been trying to _kill_ me for five hundred years. And I don't really have any _friends_ … well, besides Sapphire and dear Dead Eddie. I would have been glad not to be remembered. I wanted you to be able to keep the life you had. I'm sorry that it didn't work out that way."

"I don't believe you," There was nothing else I could say.

But Quill looked so serious, and the longer he stared at me, the more I felt my resolve faltering. He'd really done it! He'd really done everything that he claimed, and I had played right into his hands! I'd put Creation in more danger than ever before, loosening one of the very monsters on the world that my previous incarnation had been created to exterminate. Worst of all, I'd lost all of my friends and family, everyone I had ever known or loved!

I collapsed to my knees.

"Oh, stop it! No one's _dead_! Besides, memory is a funny thing and even the best alterations don't always stick! Just ask Clever Devil about that!" He smirked. "Believe me, the pattern spiders are working on unraveling this big, ugly mess right now. They'll put things right eventually. It shouldn't take them more than a hundred years," Quill sighed heavily.

"A _hundred_ years?" I protested.

"That's _fast_ for Yu Shan! You have no idea what a mess that city is! Next Calibration I'll have to take you there. Look at it this way, Faeslayer. You may have temporarily escaped _Fate_ , but you are _still_ a Solar and _nothing_ you do will go unnoticed! Some bureaucrats will have to eat their hats on this one, but everyone upstairs will be working overtime to get you back into the Loom where you belong. I… should warn you, you'll probably have a Sidereal from Oversight permanently assigned to watch you now. It's not so bad, really," he smirked. "They can be very useful when they think they're winning."

I didn't ask what he meant by that. It was fairly obvious that Quill considered everything inside or outside of Creation to be one great big game.

"What have I done?" I buried my head in my hands.

"Ah! I was hoping you'd ask that! Let me show you!" Bowing dramatically in my direction, Quill opened the double doors in front of us.

I stared. From the looks of things, we were still in the First Age. On the streets below, people stood frozen in place, unable to recognize the city that they thought they knew. The Whispering Serpent zipped past on its gleaming track.

"We're still inside the Well? In the past?" I wondered uneasily.

"No, we're back in Creation – and what you are looking at is _the_ _future_." Quill replied. "I tried to explain to you before. The Weeping Maiden was on the fence during the Primordial War, and though she chose to return to the Wyld, for some time it looked like she was going to side with Autochthon and Gaia. You and Perfect ended up trading blows with her in the end, but the Weeping Maiden wasn't always your enemy! If things had gone differently, we might have spoken her name in the same breath as Luna's. Primordials are not inherently evil, Faeslayer." He explained. "With the Weeping Maiden's help, Perfect's reality engine tried to restore what it _thought_ was normality here in Nexus. Since you were holding onto the Vortex, it restored everything to the state which _you_ remembered. And of course, it could only have been you, with all of your memories! You rebuilt Old Nexus in its entirety, with a few of the better features of the present day. Three Pearl's Teahouse, that damnable fae bakery and of course… _Anathema's_." Quill laughed.

"We terraformed this entire city without harming a single soul. Of course, a great many people are still confused right now, but the Sidereals are working on convincing them that things are just as they've ever been. You should know that Heaven has absolutely _lost_ _it._ Apparently the Loom of Fate was wise to this whole mess and somehow concealed all of the threads that it was weaving together until it was too late for anyone to intervene. That's the trouble with Primordials, you understand. Long term plans. _"_ He smirked mischievously.

I stared at him in disbelief. "You're telling me that we just restored a First Age city to Creation... by accident?"

"Not entirely by accident," Quill replied smugly. "I'd rather hoped that something like this might happen. Of course, it's not the whole world that we've changed – not yet! The Usurpation still occurred and throughout Creation, the Dragonblooded still rule. But what's just happened here will not go unnoticed. Chrysalis will take this as a call to action. Our operatives from every corner of the Realm will be returning, and you'll have an army. The time is coming to take back what is rightfully ours."

"You mean take down the Realm?" I whispered, a little afraid by the scale of what Quill was proposing. Then again, from the perspective of a Solar his age, there probably weren't a lot of things that seemed impossible.

"More than that. A new Deliberative, just as your previous incarnation proposed. We know that there are problems that we Solars have caused for ourselves and we're going to get to the root of them, just as we did with the Well. I'm going to start calling in every favor I'm owed to prevent us from being crushed outright. I'll be your Emissary to Yu Shan, the Underworld, the deepest reaches of the Wyld! And I will be depending on you, Loren. As you already know, there are more than a few Solars and Lunars already in this city. The problem is, they don't trust me and frankly, I don't blame them for that. If I were in your boots, I wouldn't trust me either. But they do trust _you – and_ I think that's a start. Now what do you say? Are you ready to take the reins from me? I'm giving you Nexus, Faeslayer. If you want your city back, it's yours!"

He offered me his mask.

"I can't!" I argued. But then I considered. It was no small offer that Quill had made me. If anyone besides the Emissary had promised to hand over control of Nexus, I would have thought they were completely mad. But Quill _was_ the city's de-facto ruler. If I became the Emissary myself, there wasn't much I couldn't do.

There is an old saying which warns of the corruptive nature of power, and it came to my mind then. Of course, I was also well-aware that Solars had earned the sobriquet "Lawgivers" for a reason. I remembered quite clearly the last thing my previous incarnation had said to me before he disappeared into the sunset.

 _Be_ _the_ _change_ _you_ _wish_ _to_ _see_.

He was right, and so was Quill... but I wasn't about to tell him so.

"I'm not agreeing to _anything_ before I talk to Amira!" I informed him.

"I thought you might feel that way," Quill rolled his eyes. "That's why I took the liberty of finding her and… filling her in."

"Amira?" I whispered hesitantly, sensing a familiar presence just behind me. She looked just as she did at the river when we'd first met, wild and savage… and at the same time, so very beautiful. Without saying a word, she collapsed into my arms and sobbed until her face was red with tears.

"Veritas, Viper, and Sapphire are waiting for you downstairs. They're all a little confused right now, but give them time," Quill explained.

"What about Roach?" I asked.

"I can't say where he is. I contacted everyone else through the Sun-King Seneshals, and I've got a friend of mine in the Forbidding Manse of Ivy doing a little reconnaissance, but so far as I know - in this new present your friend still serves the Realm."

"You mean he didn't…"

"Exalt? No, and that's very curious. I can't imagine even the Weeping Maiden undoing the work of the Unconquered Sun without expecting some kind of retaliation. To be honest, I'm not sure what kind of life he's led without you erased from it. And being a mortal, his thread is somewhat… less significant than your own. He'll probably be dead by the time anyone unravels it. He might be dead already. It would be best not to get your hopes up," Quill replied.

"Quill?" I sighed heavily.

"Yes?"

"Run your own city," I replied. "I'm going to find Roach."

 _One_ _year_ _later_

"Lord Faeslayer!"

"What is it now?" I sighed heavily. There was a soldier standing just inside of my tent. I didn't recognize him, but I suspected that he was a new recruit from the way that he stared at me, not daring to come any closer.

I was in the middle of shaping some sorcery and knew full well how I probably looked from a mortal perspective. I continued what I was doing without turning to face him. Veritas had been right about spell-casting… it was ruthless, and the Sapphire Circle that I was now beginning was far less forgiving than the Emerald Circle I'd already mastered.

Veritas was a quick study and had already begun studying Adamant Circle sorcery himself under Quill's erratic and often useless "tutelage", despite having Exalted years _after_ me. He laughed at most of my failures… at least until I invited him to join my daily martial arts practice – particularly since I'd begun studying under my new Sidereal "keeper", Whisper.  
Although Veritas was a master of Snake Style himself and quite skilled in his own right, he was more inclined towards tinkering and the arcane, just as I was more inclined to run my blade through something first and attempt to unravel its inner nature later.

"We've captured a spy, sir," my soldier announced.

"A spy?" The spell I had been shaping for two days fizzled in my hands but thankfully didn't explode in my face. I sighed in defeat, knowing I would have to start over from the beginning. "All right, bring him in!" I sat down at my desk and poured myself some wine. Quill had brought it back from Yu-Shan on his last trip and it was exceptionally good, even for a celestial vintage.

"Get your hands off of me!" A familiar voice snarled.

I almost spilled my cup when I saw the "spy" that my soldiers had captured. There were a few new scars and a little more wear on his face… but there was no doubt in my mind that the man standing before me in scuffed-up black lamellar was Roach.

He didn't recognize me, of course, not that I'd expected him to. Even if we _had_ lived our lives together in an altered reality, everything that had led up to the destruction of The Well had changed me. Not even my father would have recognized me as Cathak Loren, and it was utterly impossible to mistake my bearing or mannerisms for those of a Dragonblooded. I'd stopped trying to emulate my old masters. Though I still remembered the lessons they had taught me, the world that I had been born into was very different from the one that I now lived in.

Since I'd been working sorcery for the past few days, I wasn't dressed in my usual armor… but the superheavy orichalcum plate that I'd brought back with me from the First Age was displayed in a fairly conspicuous location along with my daiklave. That, and I'd been using a fair amount of Essence… not enough to make me burn, but enough that my Caste Mark was obvious.

"Uhoh," Roach stared.

"Sit down. Let's have a civil talk, shall we?" I gestured to the chair across from me and he quietly obeyed, glancing over his shoulder to my soldiers who smiled and waved at him before darting back to their posts. Some of my men simply couldn't resist the opportunity to bring me prisoners. It amused them to see how I struck terror into the hearts of those who didn't actually know me well. The kind of people who flocked to the banner of a known Anathema weren't always the most savory sorts, but I was working on improving their behavior. "I just want to ask you some questions."

"You're…" Roach stammered.

"Anathema, demon, damned, Forsaken?" I gestured to my Caste Mark. "I'll make this easy for you. The word you're looking for if you're _anywhere_ in lands of the New Deliberative is _Solar_. And regardless of what you've been told, we don't eat babies or burn down villages. Now are you afraid of me, soldier?"

"No." Roach replied stiffly.

"Well, that's a lie," I didn't need a Charm to make that judgment, but Roach still bristled, perhaps fearing that I'd pulled the information somehow from his mind. "Understand that you _will_ tell me the truth. In this matter you do not have a choice."

"You can't force me to talk! And I'm not afraid of you!" He protested.

"Actually, I _can_. Force you to talk, that is," I sighed. "But I'd rather not do it."

Of course, that was when Amira heard the news and swooped in, giddy and giggling. She pounced on the back of Roach's chair and brushed his nose with her tail. "Oh, you done it now! He's gonna use a Charm on you!" Roach looked about ready to wet himself at the sight of her toothy grin.

"Damnit Amira!" I sighed, noticing that with her arrival we had gathered an audience of at least a dozen more soldiers. It hadn't been my intention to terrify Roach out of his wits, but if Amira and I were being watched, then we were compelled to pretend that he was just an ordinary prisoner. "You're ruining my interrogation!"

"You know, if I were in charge of this, it'd be going a whole lot quicker," she teased.

"You _ate_ the last prisoner I gave you to interrogate!" I protested. Of course, she'd done no such thing, but most everyone in Creation believed that Lunars were barbaric killing machines, so the ruse I'd concocted had its desired result. Roach looked even paler than before. My soldiers all laughed and decided to go about their business, which was precisely what I'd hoped that they would do.

Amira smirked. "So?"

"No, no! Stop! Please!" Roach begged. "I'll tell you everything I know!"

Amira blinked. "Seriously?"

"That was quick," I observed.

"I know! I can't believe he actually fell for it." Amira rolled her eyes.

"Well… you know he doesn't remember us," I whispered. "And the last I heard from Quill, the pattern spiders are _still_ untangling that knot we made."

Roach glanced at me skeptically. "What are you two whispering about?"

"Oh, nothing," Amira smirked. "We were just running the ol' "Nice Solar, Mean Lunar" bit. It's practically the oldest trick in the book."

"And Amira ought to know, because she _wrote_ the book," I added.

"Are you calling me old?" Amira frowned, putting her hands on her hips. "You're gonna get it!" She warned in a tone that left nothing to the imagination.

"So you're not going to eat me?" Roach observed, relaxing slightly.

Amira grimaced. "Heck no, human is yucky!"

"And you're not going to use Charms on me either?" He pressed.

"Not if I don't have to. Soldier, you've been lied to. We're not the monsters that the Immaculate Order makes us out to be," I sighed, well aware that Amira was baring her fangs at the soldiers who'd crept back around my tent to peek in on us. "Not… all of us, anyway."

I stood up and offered Roach my hand. At first he hesitated to take it.

"As you can see, I'm Dawn Caste… which means I won't bind you to do anything on a simple handshake. That's the Emissary you've been warned about, and it would be best if you avoid him entirely."

Roach nodded, slowly reaching to shake my hand. For the briefest of moments, there was something I swore was recognition in his eyes. "My name is Alexander. They call me the Faeslayer. This devious bitch is Amira Heartsblood, my Mate. What's your name?"

Roach hesitated again and then smiled, looking embarrassed. However different his life might have been, I knew at once that he _was_ my old friend. "Um… Well, most people call me Roach. Cause they think I don't wash enough. And cause I'm hard to kill. Like a cockroach."

"You and me both," I laughed. "Come, let me show you something."

We went down to the river where my warbird was waiting. Roach gasped and pressed his face to the windows as we rose into the sky. After some miles, we descended and he caught what I gathered was his first glimpse of our new Nexus.

"This used to be one of the filthiest cities in Creation. As you can see, my friends and I have done a little… renovating." I explained, gesturing to the Yellow River dam. It was a phenomenal feat of engineering by any standards, and had even turned heads when it was originally built in the First Age.

I knew exactly where I needed to take Roach, the place where the pattern spiders could most easily find him. We went directly to the Temple of the Unconquered Sun. The priests and priestesses quietly slipped outside as I took my old friend in, giving us a private moment.

As I had hoped he might, Roach seemed to recognize the place we'd come to. Without hesitation he walked up to the statue of the Unconquered Sun and touched its pedestal.

"I was raised in a temple like this. My mother was a priestess. One day, the Wyld Hunt came for us. I ran as far as I could… I was so sure they would kill me when they found me. But Sesus Calil didn't think it was right. I was too young, only ten years old. He must have figured that I could still be taught, so he packed me up with his baggage and that's how I joined up with the Ravenous Winds. I was starving and needed a place to stay. Maybe I thought I could get revenge? Gave up on that a long time ago." He paused. "You know, I've always felt like there was something missing in my life. Like my mind was a book, and for some reason… half of the pages were blank."

I nodded, smiling slightly.

"I don't know why I'm telling you all this," Roach admitted. "Can I stay here for a while?"

"I was going to ask you if you'd consider it. But you must understand… Nexus is not a very safe place. We've got enemies in the Underworld, in Yu-Shan, on the edges of Creation… not to mention every last claimant for the Scarlet Throne. There's no stability in the Realm anymore, but the Dragonbloods will fight us down to the last man before they'll let us hold this city."

Roach shook his head. "No, I mean right here – can I stay here, in this temple? I need to think."

"Take all the time you need. When you're ready to talk some more, I'll be downstairs," I nodded, slowly turning towards the doors.

"Wait, _Loren_!" He shouted.

I blinked in surprise. There was no way Roach could have guessed my real name. Everyone in the new Nexus, with the except of my Circlemates, knew me only as Alexander Faeslayer.

"Loren!" He gritted his teeth and clutched his head. "Ah! What's happening to me?"

"I can't believe it worked! The spiders must have found your thread!" I exclaimed.

"Spiders?"

"The spiders work in Yu Shan and they control F _ate_. They've been looking for your thread – the thread of _your_ life since we... well, we made them a very big mess! And if they've finally found your thread, they're going to untangle it! Quill said that would _never_ happen! He said that you'd be dead before they ever got to you! Oh, I love it when he's wrong!"

"Quill? Loren, Quill's the Emissary!" He shook me furiously, as if that piece of news was something he'd meant to tell me for a very long time.

"I know," I nodded.

"How?" Roach demanded.

"He tried to kill all of us, remember?" I reminded him.

"When? We're… we're still in the temple? Where's the Well? Did I pass out?" He paused, evaluating his lamellar. "What am I wearing? Forget that, what are _you_ wearing? Is that a bathrobe?" He stared at my blue and gold robes, the working attire of a Celestial Circle Sorcerer, in disbelief.

"It's complicated, Roach. First things first… it's been more than a year."

"A whole year?" He stared at me in disbelief. "Boss, did you hit your head or something?" He raised an eyebrow in my direction. "Gaah. Did I hit _my_ head? The last thing I remember, I…"

"What _is_ the last thing you remember?"

"Everybody was hugging me. And it hurt, because my ribs were broken. And…"

"Roach?"

A single tear trickled down his cheek. Roach collapsed to his knees and stared up at the statue of the Unconquered Sun. I didn't have to ask what he was remembering. From what I'd experienced with Veritas, Sapphire and Amira, I knew that when the spiders unwound someone's tangled thread, they _witnessed_ things as they had truly been.

In a sense, the two lives they had lived merged one alongside the other, and they become something like I was - "Loren" and simultaneously "Alexander". Quill seemed to believe that eventually the pattern spiders would eventually repair the threads of all of our lives so that Creation would be as close to the way it had been before the Weeping Maiden had removed me from it.

But of all the cruel punishments… I could only imagine how Roach must have felt, seeing himself as the hero he had been. He stood up slowly and turned in the direction of the doors. I moved to stop him from leaving, but he brushed me away. "I've got to go."

"No, you're not going anywhere! Roach, if you remember _me_ , everyone else will remember you!" I informed him.

"I can't handle that," he replied. "It's too much."

"Viper will kill me if you don't go see her!" I sighed heavily.

"It doesn't matter. Loren, I wish I didn't know what I know now," He paused, glancing over his shoulder at the statue. "No. That's not true. I'm glad that I remember," He laughed slightly, a harsh sound that seemed like more of a strangled sob. "But do you have any idea how badly I wish I could just jump back into _that_ _life_? I _can't_! And I'm not going to disappoint you for failing to live up to myself."

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault," I shook my head heavily. "I was the one who took the vortex when I shouldn't have. I made a mess of everything."

"It's okay," Roach paused. "I… I was Exalted for all of ten minutes. I can get over it. Might even make me a better person, knowing that. But I can't stay here."

"And just _where_ do you think _you're_ going?" A voice boomed.

I turned slowly and stared. Standing directly behind us where his statue had been only moments before was the Unconquered Sun. Roach didn't seem as surprised as I was to see the God _in_ _person_ , which led me to wonder what I'd missed when I was lying on the ground barely conscious and _he_ was making short work of the Shoat's horrible "Sister". They say that all Zenith Caste Solars receive a vision from the Unconquered Sun when they Exalt, but I'd never expected it to be quite so literal.

The God glanced briefly in my direction, a good-natured grin on his face. And then he saw Roach, who stood wringing his hands and looking painfully distraught.

"Oh, for the love of… How many times do I have to Exalt you?" The Unconquered Sun groaned. "Do you realize that I'm missing my turn in the Games! What a mess, what a damned mess this is! Lytek!" He shouted to the sky. "I want _everything_ fixed! Right _now_!"

The Temple exploded with light. I dunked behind the altar and shielded my head, not sure what was happening. When the smoke finally cleared, the Unconquered Sun was gone, part of the ceiling had collapsed and Roach was lying on the floor in the middle of an enormous scorch mark.

Roach sat up slowly, coughing. "So… what was it that you were saying before? That… this is the way things were always meant to be?" He eyed me suspiciously.

"Well, maybe not _yet,_ " I laughed. There was black dust all over his face except for one perfectly round spot between his eyes, which was faintly flickering. "But they're getting there!"


End file.
